Andhra Pradesh   

Central panel on Polavaram visits Bhadrachalam

Staff Reporter

Takes stock of risk of submergence and its impact on forests

BHADRACHALAM: The Central empowered committee constituted by the Supreme Court on the Polavaram (Indirasagar) project visited the tribal pockets in Bhadrachalam and Palvancha divisions of Khammam district on Sunday and took stock of the risk of submergence and its likely impact on forests.

The committee, led by P.V. Jayakrishnan, chairman, was greeted by demonstrations and rallies staged both in support of the project as well as against it all through. The temple town echoed to slogan-shouting by members of the tribal organisations right from the morning. The Adivasi Samskema Parishad took out a huge rally opposing the project. The State convener of the Parishad presented a memorandum and emphasised the need for obtaining the acceptance of the tribal groups, living in the scheduled areas, likely to be displaced by holding gram sabhas.

He said the Government had not made any serious effort to reach out to the affected population. It also could not follow the provisions of the Panchayati Raj Act in this regard.

MLAs' representation

Congress legislators from the district Jalagam Venkata Rao and Vanama Venkateswar Rao made a representation to the committee members stating that the project held great hope for the parched lands in the region. They explained to the panel members that the Government had taken up implementation of a novel programme for rehabilitation of the tribal groups. The loss of forest cover would be compensated by implementing the afforestation programme. AICCI secretary P. Sudhakar Reddy met the panel chairman separately and explained to him that the Godavari river waters were flowing waste into the Bay of Bengal.

The construction of the project would usher in a phase of rapid development.

CPI(M) protest

The CPI(M) leaders staged a protest in front of the hotel where the committee members stayed overnight, opposing the project. They were annoyed as the Congress leaders were allowed one by one to meet the panel while their delegation was kept waiting for a long time. Bhadrachalam MLA Sunnam Rajaiah and MP Midium Babu Rao squatted in front of the vehicle of the panel members.

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