‘Stop Polavaram hydro project if violating FRA’
Dr N.C. Saxena, who led the committee which recommended the ban on bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills believes that if the Polavaram hydro project in Andhra Pradesh is violating the Forest Rights Act (FRA), then it should not be executed. Dr Saxena believes that if the FRA has been violated in Polavaram, the environment ministry needs to do a re-think on it.
The Polavaram dam on the Godaviri river was granted environmental clearance in July even though its construction will result in the submergence of 7,500 hectares of forest land.
Over 300 tribal villages fall under the submergence area. Most of these villages are located in Orissa and Chhattisgarh. It is for this reason that Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik is opposed to its construction and has accused the environment ministry and the central government of playing politics and of adopting different yardsticks for a Congress-ruled state government and for one ruled by an Opposition party.
Dr Saxena insists that if the gram sabhas have not been heard in Polavaram then it is an illegal step. But activists need to use his report to get justice.
“The law must be the same. But I have not been to Polavaram so I do not have first hand inputs on what the tribals there are saying. Unless I have the facts, I cannot give a detailed comments,” he explained.
The UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s has written a letter to Andhra Pradesh chief minister K. Rosaiah assuring him that the Polavaram must receive national status.
In the light of this increased criticism, the Andhra Pradesh state government had redesigned the project in consultation with the Central Water Commission. The new design will now include building a wall along the state border to prevent flooding in neighbouring Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
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