--lashes out at State Govt for inaction in Polavaram issue
BHUBANESWAR:
The State Government failed to address the inter-State water issues which is
very unfortunate, said former Union Minister Braja Kishore Tripathy here on
Tuesday. He alleged that a project fixing has been institutionalised among
Union Government, State Governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
He said that when CWC met before giving initial
approval to Polavaram on January 20,
2009, official representatives from Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh
attended the meeting, but no officer from Odisha was present there. The project
would affect the people along with environment of the State, but no one raised
voice against Andhra Pradesh Government’s arbitrary activities which was very
unfortunate, he added.
He alleged that the State Government is shedding
crocodile tears without doing any exemplary protest against Polavaram and
Mahendrataneya project. “If the BJD Government is shedding tears for tribals,
why it was silent for a year and seven months and did not do any survey to
ascertain how many tribal villages and forest lands would be submerged due to
Polavaram,” Tripathy said.
He said the Chief Minister of
Odisha should meet Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and discuss at length about
the project as it will displace many boarder villages of Odisha. He also
demanded the State Government should appoint a standing counsel at the Supreme
Court to fight for Odisha in the apex court on Polavaram issue. “How many days
the State Government will be apprehended by the apex court,” Tripathy
criticized.
Opposing the project, Tripathy
said the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by the Central Water Commission
(CWC) on Polavaram dam is misleading and false. The contention of CWC that the
Bachawat Tribunal of 1980 settled all issues of submersion is invalid because
it is based on the condition of 36 lakh cusecs design flood which was increased
to 50 lakh cusecs in August 2006 and hence the award is not valid anymore, he
added.
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