Bhubaneswar: The House Committee of the Odisha Assembly has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the Polavaram issue. This was announced by the House Committee member and Minister Sanjay Das Burma here on Monday.
“The committee has requested the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to fix a date between December 27 and January 18 for appointment with the prime minister," he said.
Asked about the memorandum the House Committee is going to submit to the prime minister, the minister said the Committee would apprise the prime minister of the new issues which were discussed at its earlier meeting.
“We will apprise the prime minister of the latest position of the case relating to Polavaram in the Supreme Court. Secondly, we would urge for early intervention of the Centre to conduct Palli Sabhas in Odisha to seek the opinion of tribals who would be affected by the proposed project. Union Water Resources minister Uma Bharti made a statement on this earlier in which she had said Palli Sabhas must be conducted in Odisha as the proposed project involves the displacement of several tribals of South Odisha districts bordering Andhra Pradesh. We had been demanding the same since much earlier,” Das Burma said.
To a question on whether the opposition Congress and BJP members, who had resigned from the Committee, would be invited to the Committee in next meeting, he said the BJD and the Speaker of the House would invite them to participate in the meeting.
“Since the House Committee is above any politics, I hope that the opposition members, for the sake of safeguarding the larger interests of Odisha as well as the tribals, will attend the meeting,” the minister added.
Giving details of the damage the Polavaram project will have on Odisha, he said a total of 6818 people would be displaced of which 5916 would be the tribals. Apart from this, a total of 7656 hectares of land comprising 26 tribal villages will be submerged.
“We will request the prime minister for a permanent solution of the Polavaram issue as per the recommendation of the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal,” Das Burma informed.
He also made it clear that the Committee, the committee will have another meeting where it will prepare a final memorandum.
“The Committee has asked the Water Resources department to prepare the final memorandum,” he said.
He also made it clear that the Committee, before meeting the prime minister, will have another meeting where it will prepare a final memorandum.
“The Committee has asked the Water Resources department to prepare the final memorandum,” he pointed out.