Polavaram Issue: Union Jal Shakti Ministry Holds Virtual Meeting of Four Stakeholder States

New Delhi: The Union Jal Shakti Ministry held a virtual meeting with the officials of stakeholder States concerned with the Polavaram multi-purpose project on Thursday. The e-meeting was attended by the representatives of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana states. 
 
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to call a meeting of the stakeholder States on the Polavaram issue. The bench led by SK Kaul noted in its order that, “pioneering role needs to be played by Jal Shakti Ministry and the Ministry of Environment.”

Participating in the video conference, RK Gupta, Chairman of the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) said construction of Polavaram dam is not in violation of the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal award. He said the construction of the project is being taken up only after the Centre approved the project design. 

It is worth mentioning here that Odisha has conveyed its apprehension about the construction of the Polavaram dam. The state government said the under-construction dam and the spillway would submerge a considerable area of its territory, including protected tribal areas. 

The Chairman of the national project (PPA) further said that the Andhra government had proposed a joint survey of the potential agency areas in Chhattisgarh and Odisha states in view of the construction of the Polavaram dam. Chhattisgarh has completed the joint survey while the Odisha government refused to join the mutual survey, Gupta said. The PPA Chairman added that the dam won’t alter the area of submergence due to Godavari flood as the impact of Polavaram backwaters has already been examined.

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Meanwhile, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has scheduled a meeting of technical experts from the four stakeholder States on October 7. The Jal Shakti department would likely take further action based on the technical experts report.