Bhubaneswar: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) workers and leaders on Friday joined a demonstration held in Motu area of Odisha’s Malkangiri district against the controversial Polavaram inter-state water project.
The protesters, along with representatives from Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, who gathered under the Joint Action Committee, demanded immediate steps to halt the project.
BJD president and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik joined the protest demonstration through a video conference and said that he has always fought for the cause of the people of Malkangiri district who will lose their land and livelihood once the Polavaram dam is complete.
Maintaining that the project is against the interest of Odisha, the former Chief Minister said he has always opposed the design change of the project for which many areas of Malkangiri district will be submerged.
Hitting out at the BJP-led government at the Centre over the issue, Naveen claimed that the controversial project is being implemented in an arbitrary and unilateral manner.
Vowing to work for safeguarding the interest of tribals, the BJD supremo said he will always fight for the rights of the people of Malkangiri district.
BJD, in a statement said that the demonstration resulted in the adoption of a set of resolutions aimed at protecting the land, livelihood, and rights of those living in the project’s impact zones.
The delegates unanimously condemned the unilateral decision by the Centre to sanction Rs 12,000 crores in 2024-25 and Rs 6000 crores in 2025-26, totaling around Rs 18,000 crores for the project, without proper consultation with the riparian states and the communities at risk of displacement.
They stated that this decision violates the provisions of the 1980 Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) Award and poses a direct threat to the people of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
The delegates strongly condemned the Centre’s decision to approve Rs. 18,000 crores for the Polavaram project, bypassing essential consultations with the affected communities. This decision violates both legal and environmental norms and threatens the livelihoods of the people in these regions, the claimed.
The delegates highlighted serious discrepancies in the data provided by authorities regarding the extent of land submergence. They demanded a fresh and independent study to assess the true scale of the inundation and its impact on the affected areas.
The resolution underscored the failure of the government to adequately address the displacement of tribal communities. The delegates called for proper Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) measures to be put in place, in line with the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and demanded that no displacement occur until legal and moral obligations are met.
The protesters demanded that a high-level delegation from the government of India and Odisha must visit the affected areas to assess the potential impacts of the project. The work at the Polavaram Dam site should be stopped immediately till all submergence issues in Malkangiri district of Odisha are settled.
They also warned that a legal battle will be initiated in the Hon’ble Supreme Court to seek a stay on further construction of the project until all environmental and legal procedures are followed.
Stating that independent backwater studies should be conducted, with representation from all affected states, to evaluate the potential impacts more accurately, they demanded holding of a mandatory public hearing in Malkangiri before granting any further environmental clearances or approvals for the project.
This apart, no displacement should occur without a comprehensive R&R plan that guarantees compensation, alternative livelihoods, and protection of land rights for all affected families., they said.
