LIVE TV
Odisha
Recommended Stories
New Delhi/ Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Central government and Andhra Pradesh over environmental clearances pertaining to the Polavaram project.
The apex court’s order came in response to the objections raised by the Odisha government on environment clearance granted to Polavaram
While hearing the petition, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Madan B Lokur and Dipak Gupta directed the Union Government and Andhra Pradesh to file their response within three weeks.
The next hearing on the matter will be after four weeks, informed Supreme Court advocate, Shravan Kumar.
Kumar further informed that the apex court also expressed concerns as the original suit filed by Odisha as well as Hyderabad-based NGO Readiness for Empowerment through Legitimate Action (RELA) is pending since long.
Apart from Odisha, Telangana government has moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT), seeking a detailed survey while Odisha has been against the Polavaram project claiming that it is against the interest of the State.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in June this year had also written to Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Harsh Vardhan regarding the environmental clearance to Polavaram.
In his letter, Patnaik said that Odisha is not being informed on the issue of ‘stop work order’ being kept in abeyance from time to time by the ministry.
Odisha government has been opposing the Polavaram project which is being taken up by Andhra Pradesh unilaterally.
Morevoer, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on July 11 had kept in abeyance the stop work order on Polavaram multipurpose project by one more year inducing strong opposition from Odisha.
-----
