Odisha Challenges National Status To Polavaram, SC Asks 4 States To Frame Issues

Bhubaneswar: Hearing a petition of the Odisha government, challenging the central government’s decision on national project status to multi-purpose Indira Sagar Polavaram project on the Godavari, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments to frame the issues for arguments.

A bench comprising, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta, passed the order.

In the petition, the Odisha government pointed out that the project would submerge close to 600 habitations in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana, and also about 8,000 acres of forest land and 500 acres of wildlife sanctuary, according to a report published in a national daily.

The project also violated the Bachawat Tribunal order, it added.

For safety of Odisha, it urged the apex court to cancel the permissions granted to the project.

The Odisha government also argued that the National Environment Appellate Authority in 2007 had cancelled the environment clearance to the project, but Hyderabad High Court stayed it as an interim measure.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests had also given a direction to stop the construction work of the project on February 8, 2011, but had later kept its own order in abeyance, the petition added.

The counsel for AP government told the Supreme Court that the governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana did not state their problems in three meetings conducted to resolve the issues.

The counsels of these states raised objections to this statement, during the hearing.

The bench then directed all the four states to frame the issues for arguments by July 30. The bench made clear that the court would take a decision in this regard if the states do not come up with issues for arguments by July 30, the next date of hearing.