By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 29, 2015 : The union government has given a go ahead to Andhra Pradesh government to begin work on the controversial Polavaram Project by withdrawing the ‘Stop-Work’ order on the Polavaram Project issued earlier for one year.

Incidentally, the mandatory public hearing on the matter is yet to be completed in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Pressured by the Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, the union forest and environment minister Prakash Javdekar has given the consent to start work on the project. A letter and an executive order in this regard has been issued to the Andhra Pradesh government.

However, the governments of Odisha as well as the Chhattisgarh, key stakeholders in the project as people from both the states are going to be affected by the project, have not been informed about the union government’s consent to start work at Polavaram.

Earlier, in a directive, both the states were asked to conduct the public hearing on the matter within 3 to 6 months of the ‘Stop-Work’ order given to Andhra Pradesh government.

However, which such a decision, questions are being raised on the intentions of the Central government as a large number of villages in Odisha and Chhattisgarh will be submerged by the project.

Notably, the Polavaram Project on the Godavari River was accorded approval in 2005. However, the Andhra Pradesh government sought consent of Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments in 2010 for the parts which were spread in these two states. The project is estimated to submerge 40 villages in 7 Panchayats of Malkangiri district while many others in Chhattisgarh. Amid protests from both the States the work on the project was stopped in 2011. Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments have also moved the Supreme Court in this regard and the decision to start work on the project comes while the matter is still sub-judice.

The project across the River Godavari is expected to displace about 1,93,357 persons and affect 300 villages, according to the 2010 environmental clearance order which uses data of 2001 population of these villages. The population over the decade and a half has risen considerably. It is to irrigate about 2.91 lakh hectare of agricultural land, store 550 million cubic metres of water and generate 960 MW of power, divert 80 TMC of Godavari water to Krishna River for stabilizing the existing command under Prakasam barrage and provides drinking facilities to 540 enroute villages covering 25 lakh people together with water supply to Visakhapatnam city and to industries enroute.

The project is to be built on the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. But the water is expected to inundate many tribal villages in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, too. Construction has to be carried out for the project in these states. Some 6,316 persons from Orissa and 11,766 are from Chattisgarh.

The capital cost of the project was estimated at Rs 9072 crore in 2005.