Odisha’s BJP Government Faces Opposition Backlash Over Polavaram, Mahanadi Dispute

Bhubaneswar: Dubbing the Mohan Majhi-led BJP government as “stunt ki sarkar” (one surviving on stunts), the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Congress have accused it of ignoring “real” issues, like the alleged threat to Odisha from the Polavaram multi-purpose project coming up in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Mahanadi row involving Chhattisgarh and the urgent need for the Union government to accord a “special category” tag to the state.

“All these issues are vital to protecting the interests of the state in keeping with the promise made by the BJP in the elections, but this government has not spoken a word about them in the last eight months that it has been in power for. The so-called double-engine sarkar has double-crossed the people of the state,” said veteran Congress leader and former MLA Lalatendu Mohapatra.

Similar sentiments were echoed by BJD leader and former minister Rohit Pujari, who accused the government of indulging in ‘stunts’ like the launch of the Subhadra Yojana for women only with a view to run down the previous government’s Mission Shakti, an initiative meant to empower women.

“They are doing this only for the sake of publicity while neglecting urgent issues like Polavaram. The multipurpose project includes a dam whose backwaters would submerge large tracts of land in Odisha’s Malkangiri district,” said Pujari.

He added: “Similarly, the issue of the Mahanadi river drying up in patches on our side because of the construction of multiple dams and barrages over it by the Chhattisgarh government in the upstream area has also failed to receive the attention of the Majhi government.”

A recurring theme in Odisha’s polls, Polavaram has seen intensified work after general elections

The threat from the Polavaram dam coming up in Andhra Pradesh with the active support of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in New Delhi has been a recurrent theme in the Odisha elections, with the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD raising it umpteen times with the Union government.

The party, which recently formed a committee headed by former minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak to intensify protests over the issue, has warned that the backwaters of the Polavaram dam being constructed over the Godavari river would submerge around 200 villages in the Motu and Padia blocks of the tribal-dominated Malkangiri district, affecting more than 6,000 people.

In December last year, a delegation comprising the BJD’s Rajya Sabha members had submitted a memorandum to the Central Water Commission, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change expressing concern over submergence due to the project.

Once ready, the dam, which has been in the works for over 20 years, will aid the irrigation of 7.2 lakh acres of land, meet the drinking water needs of 28 lakh people and generate 960 MW of power through a hydropower plant.

The dam has a storage capacity of 120 thousand million cubic feet. Work on the project intensified after the NDA’s return to power for the third time, with Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu as a partner in the coalition in New Delhi.

‘If they have ignored our objections so far, I don’t see possibility of change now’: expert

However, the potential for the submergence of land notwithstanding, critics say the Andhra Pradesh and Union governments have not done enough to study the possible impact of the damage likely to be caused in Malkangiri district or to conduct a public hearing in the district to elicit the opinion of the people.

During his tenure as chief minister from 2000 to 2024, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik had written several letters to the Union government over the issue, demanding even the stoppage of work on the project until Odisha’s concerns were addressed.

“It is once again requested that the construction work of the Polavaram project should be stopped immediately till the issues pertaining to the state of Odisha are resolved,” Patnaik had said in one of the letters he wrote in 2018 to then-Union environment, forests and climate change minister Harsh Vardhan.

However, there has been no change in the attitude of either the Union or the Andhra Pradesh government.

Experts like Sudhakar Patri, former chief engineer, Mahanadi basin, do not see any possibility of Odisha’s concerns on the issue being addressed.

“All that we can expect now is some compensation for the damage likely to be caused by the dam waters on our side. If they have ignored our objections for so many years, I don’t see any possibility of a change in their attitude,” said Patri.

Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh still a live wire

Similarly, Odisha is still waiting for a resolution on the Mahanadi issue. Multiple constructions over the river by the Chhattisgarh government have drastically reduced the flow of water on the Odisha side, though the river happens to be the lifeline of the state.

Patnaik, who is now the leader of opposition in the state assembly, had on multiple occasions drawn the Union government’s attention towards what he said was the unilateral construction of barrages by Chhattisgarh on the Mahanadi river, but his appeals for help failed to evoke any positive response.

Several years ago, a delegation of BJD leaders had also visited parts of the Mahanadi basin in Chhattisgarh and the bordering areas of Odisha to study the impact that constructions by the neighbouring state had on the river. The team expressed concern over the drying up of the river on the Odisha side, especially in areas like Sambalpur.

Also read: Does Odisha CM Mohan Majhi Have Reason to Celebrate Yet?

The Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal was formed in 2018 under Justice A.M. Khanwilkar following the Supreme Court’s intervention. However, despite holding 32 hearings, it failed to deliver its report.

Justice Khanwilkar’s resignation in March 2024 created uncertainty about the fate of the tribunal, but hopes of a resolution were revived following the appointment of Justice Bela M. Trivedi as the new chairperson of the body.

However, there is apprehension about the award getting delayed.

“Odisha has been waiting for justice on Mahanadi for too long. Now that there is a BJP government both in Chhattisgarh and Odisha and the party is also leading the NDA at the Centre, the matter should be resolved quickly and hopefully in favour of Odisha. But there seems to be no effort in this regard by the Odisha government,” said former BJD MLA Latika Pradhan.

Special category demand justified as Odisha ‘at receiving end of natural disasters’

Former Congress MLA Mohapatra too lashed out at the state government for not taking up the issue seriously.

“There is now a triple-engine government with the BJP ruling Odisha, Chhattisgarh as well as the [Union government], but it is of no use to the people of the state. The Majhi government has been paying only lip service to the cause of Odisha,” said Mohapatra, who also hit out at the government for not taking up the state’s demand for special category status with the Union government.

“Odisha’s demand for this status, which will entitle it to getting the bulk of central assistance in the shape of grants, is completely justified as it has been at the receiving end of natural disasters for several decades now. Each disaster sets back the state’s exchequer by several crores. The demand for special category status had been raised by former chief minister Patnaik several times, but he never received the BJP’s support on the issue,” said Mohapatra.

His views were echoed by the BJD’s Pradhan.

“We deserve the special category tag more than any other state. But the [Union government] has consistently ignored our demand. The Majhi government, which dances to the [Union government’s] tune, is unlikely to raise the demand,” she averred.

State BJP leaders, contacted by this correspondent, avoided commenting on the issue.