Odisha’s interests overlooked in Polavaram project: BYJD

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, July 14:

Even as Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLAs protested in the Odisha Assembly against the controversial Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh and submitted a memorandum addressed to the President of India in the matter through the Governor today, the party’s youth wing, Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) today joined in the chorus and criticised the NDA government and Andhra Pradesh government for overlooking the interests of the people of Odisha’s Malkangiri district while pursuing the multi-purpose project.

BJD MLAs marching to Raj  Bhavan to submit memorandum on Polavaram (Pix: Biswaranjan Mishra)
BJD MLAs marching to Raj Bhavan to submit memorandum on Polavaram
(Pix: Biswaranjan Mishra)

In a press release, BYJD general secretary Bijay Kumar Nayak said that the NDA government led by Narendra Modi had taken an “anti-Odisha” stand and demanded the reversal of its decision to accord national project status to the controversial project till all concerns of Odisha were addressed.

“When several cases relating to Polavaram project are pending in the Supreme Court for disposal, there is no point in the NDA government and Andhra Pradesh government going ahead with the project that is going to submerge many tribal villages in Odisha, especially in Malkangiri district,” Nayak said.

“I wonder how the Union Cabinet could approve the proposal of according national project status to Polavaram project when several cases were pending against the project. We expected that Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram, who is from Odisha, would raise his voice against the project. But he is surprisingly silent now,” the BYJD general secretary said.

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