Raipur: Alleging that the Polavaram dam project that is planned to be set up on Godavari river in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, would affect parts of Chhattisgarh, Congress has organised a protest at Konta in Sukma district on Wednesday over the issue.
"The entire Konta region (southern tip of Chhattisgarh) in Sukma district falls under the submergence area due to the project, but no concrete steps are being taken by Chhattisgarh government in this direction," state Congress general secretary Shailesh Nitin Trivedi told a news agency here on Tuesday.
The project would not only affect several villages and its people in the region, but also damage the rich forest cover, flora and fauna, he added.
"Besides, the National Highway- 30, which connects Jagdalpur to Hyderabad, will also get affected due to it," Trivedi alleged.
To raise all these issues, a protest will be staged by the party leaders led by MLA Kawasi Lakhma tomorrow at Konta in Sukma district, he said.
Sukma is the worst insurgency-hit district in Chhattisgarh.
During the recent budget session of Chhattisgarh Assembly, state Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Brijmohan Agrawal had informed the House that the state government has a copy of a survey conducted by Andhra Pradesh government, according to which, if the maximum water level of Polavaram reservoir does not exceed 150 feet, then there will be no submergence in Chhattisgarh, but if the reservoir attains a height of 177 feet, then 201.296 hectares of the forest land will be submerged.
The minister, however, had added that Chhattisgarh government has not conducted any survey of submergence area under the project because finalisation of its new drawing and design was yet to be done.
The Centre has announced Polavaram dam as a national project and its preparation of drawing and design is being done by the Andhra Pradesh government.
The Chhattisgarh government has already filed a civil petition on the issue in the Supreme Court.
