Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government in Odisha has strong exception to the double standards of the Centre on the contentious Polavaram issue.
Taking note of the letter written by Union Water Resources minister Uma Bharti to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu apprising him of Central assistance to the tune of Rs 1981.54 crore for the ongoing Polavaram project through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) which will be sanctioned tomorrow, the BJD has vehemently protested the decision of the Centre in this regard.
“We have applied to the National Green Tribunal to intervene in this matter. But as it is taking time, both the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government are taking advantage of this. The Centre has always maintained double standards on Polavaram issue. The Centre is deliberately ignoring the issue in which it has political motive. If it maintains such attitude towards Odisha on its other issues, we will have a showdown with the Centre in the coming days,” BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb told media persons here today.
Also read: To-be displaced people demand halt to Polavaram work
On the other hand, BJP has come down heavily on BJD supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik for his lackadaisical approach.
“The chief minister had invited Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley for a lunch at Naveen Niwas during his recent visit to the state. Why didn’t the chief minister raise the Polavaram issue at that time? People of the southern districts of Odisha, who will be affected by the Polavaram project, know very well about the betrayal of the Andhra Pradesh government and the Centre and the chief minister is also aware of their plight. Despite this, he did not make any effort to take up the matter with the Union Finance minister which speaks volume of his seriousness about the matter,” BJP state vice president Samir Mohanty told the media here.