BJD accuses govt of ignoring Odisha's interest on Polavaram

New Delhi, July 14: BJD on Monday accused the government of being "unresponsive" to its objections on raising the height of the Polavaram project and claimed that thousands of tribals would be affected by it in four districts of Odisha.

"We have raised the issue during Zero Hour today. On Friday, when the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation (Amendment) Bill had come for the transfer of certain areas of Telengana to Andhra Pradesh, we had raised the issue.

"The manner in which the government is going ahead with the Polavaram project is totally unfortunate and is against the interest of Odisha," party MP Bhartuhari Mahtab told reporters outside Parliament.

He said the affected four districts of Odisha are observing hartal today against the construction of Polavaram project because it will "inundate" large parts of land. He also accused the UPA and the previous Andhra Pradesh government of taking a one sided "unilateral" decision of raising the height of the project following which Odisha government took the matter to the Supreme Court.

"Therefore, since the matter is under consideration, no decision should be taken which would trample the rights of the tribals," he said.

PTI