The Centre has justified in the Supreme Court the grant of clearance for the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh, and said protection against submergence would be ensured.
In its response to the suit filed by Orissa seeking suspension of work on the Polavaram Indira Sagar Project, the Central Water Commission (CWC), in its affidavit filed on Wednesday, said the final award of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal in 1980 had settled all issues of submergence.
The Centre noted that the Environment and Forests Ministry had accepted the project proposal in January 2009, asking Andhra Pradesh to ensure that there was no submergence of any habitation or forest area in Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Andhra Pradesh would construct embankments with adequate drainage arrangements to prevent submergence from backwater effect as well as reservoir submergence and consequent displacement of people in the two neighbouring States.
Multipurpose scheme
The Centre said the Polavaram project was conceived as a multipurpose scheme providing irrigation to 4.36 lakh hectares, water supply to towns and villages en route, and generating hydel power with an installed capacity of 960 MW. The project envisaged construction of an earth-cum-rockfill dam. It fulfilled the criteria for being called a national project, and investment clearance was given by the Planning Commission in February 2009.
Allaying Orissa's fears of submergence due to floods, the Centre said the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) estimated for the project was 1, 41,435 cumecs (about 50 lakh cusecs) was in order. The proposed spillway was capable was disposing of the PMF, and dam safety had been checked for this condition.
The Centre said Andhra Pradesh had been asked to furnish a confirmation report that there was no change in the number of project-affected Scheduled Tribe families from what was reported at the time of clearance of the Relief and Rehabilitation Plan, and that all protective steps had been taken to prevent submergence.
In its suit, Orissa had sought a declaration that Andhra Pradesh had no right or entitlement to undertake or proceed with the Polavaram project on the Godavari. It faulted the CWC for not furnishing any detail before approving the project. Embankments were not permanent solutions to effectively contain submergence during floods.
Also, the extent of submergence due to design flood (which had been revised to 50 lakh cusecs from the original 36 lakh cusecs by the CWC itself) and the backwater effect along the Sabari and Sileru limbs (flowing through Orissa territory into the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh) had been finalised by the CWC without estimating the flood contributions from these limbs separately by following any rational procedure or acceptable norm, Orissa said. It said the project was likely to submerge 2119.38 hectares of land in Naxalite-affected tribal areas of Malkangiri district.
Keywords: Polavaram project, Supreme Court, grant of clearance, Central Water Commission, Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal
Polavaram dam is a risky project because the dam is likely to burst due to extreme floods of 50 lakhs cusecs as approved by central Water Commission[CWC] in September,2006 while the spillway was designed for 36 lakhs cusecs as determined by Bachawat Tribunal in April,1980 as per the inter-state agreement between the basin states of Orissa,Madhya Pradesh[now chattisgarh ]and Andhra Pradesh.But according to international standards, if the peak floods of 93 lakhs cusecs are likely to be caused by intense cyclones of 2 to 3 days duration, the proposed reservoir will not be able to store the floods and due to the under_design of the spillway as asserted by Dr.K.L.Rao in 1983,it cannot let out the anticipated 93 lakh cusecs of flood expected in the catchment of Godavari and theEart-cum- rockfill dam is bound to fail resultisng in killing of about 50 lakhs of people downstream of the dam causing economic losses worth more than one lakh crores of rupees. The detailed dam break analysis, disaster management report and risk analysis and environmental management reports have notbeen properly prepared for this project and placed before the public for whose benefit the project is being constructed. In fact this project submerges lands in Orissa and Chattisgarh also and causes displacement of 3,00,000 people including a lakh of tribals.As an alternative if 3 barrages are constructed in place of this hazardous dam the people of Andhra Pradesh will be highly benefited because the cost of the barages will be lesser and it will provide higher level of safety to 50 lakhs of people likely to be drowned due to a dam collapse for one reason or the other. More over additional land of 40,000 ha will come under irrigation in Khammam district regionThe projects can also be completed within a shorter time by achieving the same economic goals as envisaged by the original project. All the environmentalists demand that the killer polavaram dam should be modified into a multiple barrages project in the interests of sustainable development of India and the people of Andhra Pradesh.For more details see the following websites: http://tshivajirao.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-dr-klrao-warned-about-collapse-of.html http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article609724.ece http://tshivajirao.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-inevitable-collapse-of-polavaram.html
It is necessary that Godavari Surplus waters must be utilised by the farmers of south India and for this purpose Polavaram project must be taken up either as a Run-of-the-river scheme or as a multiple barrages scheme.Today,there is a canal connecting Krishna river with Godavari river that runs along the Vijayawada and Rajahmundry railway railway track on its Eastern side.Another irrigation canal runs on the Eastern side of the railway track from Dowleshwaram upto about Annavaram area. A similar canal with a larger size can be constructed on the westernside of the Railway track to irrigate upper areas on both sides of Godavari.For this purpose another large barrage at Polavaram can be constructed upto about a height of about 95 to100ft.As previously suggested by the Central Water Commission long ago with a provision to align canals that can take off Godavari water to Krishna river and Visakhapatnam.In order to utilise the existing canals dug for the lift schemes necessary connections may be given and if needed the water can be lifted from these canals and used for irrigatring upper ares along the Eastern Ghats in the coastal belt.This will avoid submersion of villages to a large extent and the people displaced by this project may be given irrigable lands under the newly developed command areas as a measure of attraction to project affected people whose lands will be submerged under the project.Let all civil Engineers submit innovative schemes for the purpose.EPC scheme is better suited for this purpose.
People want Polavaram project not as a dam but as a Barrages project as it is more economical and safe and socially acceptable by all people of the basin states and the courts. Moreover it will be in tune with the judgement of the Orissa High court which passed orders that this project should not submerge any lands in Orissa and cause any displacement of Odisha people.
First of all Polavaram barrage as advocated by Eminent expert engineers like Sir Arthur Cotton,Dr.K.L.Rao and Union Government technical expert committees headed by Dr.A.N.Khosla [1953]Mr.Gulhati[1963] and Mr.A.C.Mitra[1965]was mainly intended to use Godavari waters for irrigating the upland areas Coastal Andhra Districts.But when the Karnataka and Maharashtra states agitated to get more Krishna water by diverting the Godavari waters into Krishna river, the A.P.state Government headed by Dr.M.Chenna Reddy coerced Karnataka to enter into an agreement on 4th. August,1978 that subject to clearance of Polavaram project with F.R.L.at +150 M.S.L.by Central Water Commission,{CWC]A.P.state agrees to divert 80 TMC of Godavari water into Krishna for subsequent use of 35 TMC of Krishna water by Karnataka and Maharashtra. Again on 25-2-1980 and during the discussions before Bachawat Tribunal during 19-3-1980 and 2-4-1980.
Virtually A.P.State told the Tribunal that they will compensate for submersion in the upper states upto +175 M.S.L and threatened the basin states thus,"If the condition of F.R.L/M.W.L.+150 feet at the [polavaram]Dam site is changed,there can be no question of the diversion of Godavari waters into the Krishna River at all."
Under Section[10] of the Indian Contract Act,1872,this inter-state agreement on Polavaram Project is not based on free consent of the parties and it is under undue influence from both A.P.state and Central Water Commission and Union Ministry of Water resources because Union Government stated in writing on 26-3-1980 before the Tribunal that Polavaram Dam with F.R.L./M.W.L.at +150 feet is technically feasible.On 3-4-1980 Union Government guaranteed the tribunal that Polavaram project shall be cleared by the Central Water Commission[CWC] for F.R.L/M.W.L.+150 feet.
Basin states,CWC and Union Government fixed the following parameters:
1]Spill-way design flood at 36 lakhs cusecs.
2]F.R.L/M.W.L.of Polavaram Dam at +150 feet at dam site.
3]A.P.state willing to compensate in terms of money/build embankments to avoid submersion in Orissa and Chattisgarh,upto +175 feet,M.S.L.
First parameter is changed from 36 to 50 lakhs cusec.by CWC in 2006
Third parameter is going to change from 175 ft. to 195 ft.
Second parameter is going to augment incremental floods,causing deaths of 50 lakhs people in Godavari Delta since the extreme floods will rise to 93 lakhs cusecs and existing flood embankments will collapse due to an inevitable dam burst for one reason or the other.
Development of the state is based on the development of the citizen. Such project seems to be risky for the livelihood of the Malkangiri Tribal People. The betterment of the Tribal people should be taken into consideration.
Any intellectual who makes an indepth study on Polavaram dam finds that there is a need to debate on the project to modify it from a hazardous Dam into a safer Barrages project.
The project should be re examined and its safty aspects ought to be scrutinised by experts committee.
If one goes through the detailed information regarding polavaram or Indira Sagar Project of Andhra Pradesh, one can surly make convince himself that this is the project where the orissa's demand and development has been under estimated, not for a day or a year but for the last 70 years. So, both center and andhra Pradesh should talk with Orissa and resolve the issue for the betterment of the tribals of Malkangiri. If it is not done than this issue may take Naxalites on the name of displacement and failure rehabilitation scheme.
The affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by the Central Water Commission (CWC)on Polavaram dam is misleading and false. The contention of CWC that the Bachawat Tribunal of 1980 settled all issues of submersion is invalid because it is based on the condition of 36 lakh cusecs design flood which was increased to 50 lakh cusecs in August 2006and hence the award is not valid anymore. Orissa High Court considered a writ petition and ordered in March 2006 that Polavaram dam shall not cause submersion of any land in Orissa and this judgement was accepted by the Union Government. In order to comply with the Orissa High Court orders, CWC directed AP State to construct embankment structures to avoid submersion of lands in Orissa AP state prepared an estimate for Rs.700 crores for embankment structures and asked for Environmental clearance for this project in February, 2009. But the Environmental clearance was not given because the AP State did not get the consent of Orissa and Chattisgarh so far. Investment clearance by Planning Commission is based upon hasty and defective technical clearance by the Technical Advisory Committee of the Union Ministry of Water Resources which is again based upon a defective environmental clearance based upon an incomplete EIA report that contains false and insufficient details of Risk and Dam Break Analysis , disaster and Environmental Management reports. The Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) of 50 lakh cusecs estimated by CWC is erroneous because National Institute of Hydrology used 60 lakh cusecs as the inflow design flood based on 36 lakh cusecs for preparing the Dam Break Analysis report 1999 as desired by the AP State Government. The dam safety as presumed by the CWC is false because Dr.K.L.Rao warned in April 1983 that due to defective design of Polavaram dam it is bound to fail. If the scenario of extreme floods of 26.4 lakh cusecs that occurred in Krishna in October, 2009 is applied to Godavari catchment the extreme flood at Polavaram can be estimated at 90 lakhs cusecs and the dam safety cannot be ensured and consequential dam burst will result in killing 50 lakhs of people downstream, causing more than one lakh crores worth of property losses. The embankments cannot provide even temporary solutions as observed all over the world. In fact the dykes constructed at Bhadrachalam to contain the Godavari floods always resulted in submersion of the residential colonies as the drainage arrangements mostly failed due to obstruction caused by the embankments. Even in Rajahmundry city the embankments failed to avoid submersion of residential colonies since the local drains emptying into Godavari failed to get emptied even by pumping arrangements that mostly failed due to several reasons. These frequent problems of failure of embankments are not appreciated by CWC because of dearth of experts in the CWC who have adequate exposure to field investigations, designs, construction, operation and maintenance of irrigation flood control works. The Bachawat Tribunal insisted that the design of the Polavaram dam must be based not only on the interstate agreement of 1978 but also the agreement of 1980 as far as practicable and it clearly emphasized that if any changes are to be made in the stipulated conditions the consent of the other states must be obtained . since the critical design criteria of PMF changed from 36 lakh cusecs in 1980 to 50 lakh cusecs in 2006 there is need for reformulation of the Polavaram Dam into safe Barrages project in consultation with Orissa and Chattisgarh states.
It is good the Central Govt accept the Polavaram Project of Andhra as national so as to finance 90% cost merely Congress favor but should not do any work against the interest of Odisa Tribals. Since it is 20000 cror project state govt and center should obtain clearance from odisa and chatisgarh as these 2 states are being effected by the project.It is most surprise that center is blindly supporting in all actions of the Andhra state ignoring the technical points and reaction of the people and fear of the tribals living there since hundreds of years in Malkangiri.
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