By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 10, 2015 : The Odisha Legislative Assembly Committee on Polavaram on Thursday decided to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek his intervention to stop Andhra Pradesh from unilaterally going ahead with the Polavaram multi-purpose project which threatens to “submerge large areas of Malkangiri district” in southern part of the state.”

The 27-member committee which met in the Assembly under the chairmanship of Speaker Niranjan Pujari in the evening also resolved to hold an all-party meeting in Malkangiri to put pressure on the Centre and Andhra Pradesh government to stop the project.

“Polavaram project is going to do a lot of damage to tribal villages in Odisha. As many as 68,818 persons in 15 revenue villages and 10 hamlets under Motu tehsil in Malkangiri district are going to be displaced because of submergence. This is not acceptable to us and we will take up this matter with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” food supplies and consumer welfare minister, Sanjaya Das Verma said.

Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati said his party would extend its support to the ruling BJD against its fight to stop Andhra Pradesh from going ahead with the Polavaram project.

The Assembly committee, however, is yet to schedule its visit to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal [BJD] which had stalled the Assembly session on Wednesday, also resorted the same tactic on Thursday, to garner the support of the Congress and BJP, for a consensus on its movement against Polavaram.

The Naveen Patnaik government has been protesting against the Polavaram multi-purpose project for over a decade. It has raised serious objections to the recent decision of the union government to foot the bill towards the construction of the project. The Centre has assured financial assistance of Rs 10874.58 crore the Andhra Pradesh government to compete the project over River Godavari.