Samajwadi Party asks Naveen Patnaik to take delegation to President Pranab Mukherjee on Polavaram project

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday asked Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take an all party delegation to President Pranab Mukherjee to oppose the Polavaram project in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

"The project is against the federal spirit of the country as three states like Odisha, Chhattishgarh and Telangana are opposed to it," SP state president Rabi Behera.

Behera said though cases had been filed in the Supreme Court (SC), the National Democratic Alliance) NDA government passed the Bill in Lok Sabha without waiting for its verdict. Behera said unless the height of the proposed Polavaram dam was reduced, a large number of people would be homeless in Malkangiri district.

"Time has come for the politicians to different parties to come together and protest such an anti-Odisha project," he said.

SP workers demonstrated holding the NDA government responsible for passing a Bill in Lok Sabha paving the way for construction of the project.