Bhubaneswar, Aug. 23: The Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, on Monday took up the controversial Polavaram issue with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and sought his intervention to ensure that not a single village in Orissa was inundated.
Constructed by the Andhra Pradesh government over the Godavari river, the multi-purpose Polavaram dam has become a cause of conflict between the Orissa government and Union ministry of environment and forest (MEoF).
The Orissa government alleges that the MEoF, without giving an opportunity to hear it on the Polavaram issue, granted forest clearance to the project. It complained that no public hearings were made before allowing the AP government to construct the project.
“I discussed the Polavaram issue with DSingh. I said to him that the tribal villages should not be allowed to be inundated. He assured that he would look into it and the tribals would not be disturbed. I also said to him that Posco project should not be stalled. The Prime Minister said he would give a push to it (Posco project),” the chief minister Mr Patnaik told reporters after his meeting with the PM.
In the evening, the CM met Union environment and forest minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, and discussed the recent hurdles facing the Rs 52,000-crore Posco steel project and Rs 4,500-crore Vedanta Aluminium Limited’s refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district.
After the meeting with Ramesh, the CM said the Union minister assured to expedite the two mega projects.
Mr Patnaik said both Posco and Vedanta projects were of paramount importance to the state government.