Odisha rejects Polavaram water

Maintaining that the Polavaram

multi-purpose project is of no good for Odisha, the state

government today said it did not require water from the dam

over river Godavari as offered by neighbouring Andhra Pradesh."Odisha does not need Polavaram project. The state also

does not require water from the AP project. Our water

requirement has already been met by the Kolab project. If at

all we require water, those can be directly drawn from river

Saberi through Mega Lift Irrigation project," Water Resource

Secretary S C Mohapatra told reporters here.Mohapatra was replying a question on the Andhra Pradesh

government's offer of five TMC (thousand million cubic feet)

water from Polavaram multi-purpose project. "The state

government has already sanctioned the Mega Lift Irrigation

project. We can use it if there is any deficit of water for

irrigation," he said.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Reddy in a recent

statement had said that Odisha's loss because of Polavaram

project was "very small" and the gain "much more".While Odisha would lose around 2000 acres (due to

submergence for Polavaram project), it would get five TMC

water, Reddy had said, adding that to store 5 TMC water 4000

to 5000 acres of land and Rs 600 to Rs 700 crore would be

required. But Odisha would benefit as the storage would be

done in Andhra, Reddy had said.Meanwhile, Odisha government is yet to take a decision

on Andhra Pradesh's proposal of settling the issue through

discussion."We have sought some details about Polavaram project from

Andhra government. We should know what exactly they want to

discuss with us," Mohapatra said, adding that a case was

pending in the Supreme Court in this regard. Odisha government

had gone to the apex court challenging the Rs 16,000 crore

Polavaram project.Official sources said Andhra Pradesh had offered to pay

Odisha Rs 650 crore as grant for constructing a 30-km long

embankment inside the state for Polavaram project."It would be foolish for us to accept such an offer,"

said a senior official, adding that a large area in Odisha's

Malkangiri district would be submerged once the Polavaram

project becomes operational.Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had

sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention into the

dispute with Andhra Pradesh over Polavaram project as the

neighbouring state had reportedly finalised tenders for

construction.The state had been opposing Polavaram project since

2007 and filed at least two cases in the Supreme Court seeking

to stop the dam project over Godavari.