The National Environmental Appellate Authority has canceled the clearance granted by the Union Government to the proposed Polavaram mega project in Andhra Pradesh. It was a major setback for the Andhra government and it will have to change the map of the project to get a clearance from NEAA. It happened for the first time in last ten years that an environmental clearance granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests has been quashed.

The Polavaram project is a multipurpose project cost of Rs 9,000 crore, including a hydel power component of 960 MW and several irrigation networks as well. According to the report, the project was likely to transfer 80,000 million cubic meters of water to the Krishna basin through a 174 km-long canal. It was to transfer water to Vishakhapatnam district via another canal.

The project promised to irrigate 7.21 lakh acres of agricultural land in Krishna, Godavari and Vishakhapatnam districts, and to generate about 960MW electricity also. The water was also said to feed the planned Vizag-Kakinada Industrial Corridor; two Special Economic Zones and the Apparel Park also.

However, it was also being said that the project would have displaced 2 lakh people of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh living in the proposed area of the project. Several groups had opposed the project because the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was insufficient.

R Sreedhar of Academy for Mountain Environics, an NGO, filed the appeal against the clearance given by the Union government. Two other states, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, opposed the clearance granted by centre without taking the views of the states on the possible displacements of poor villagers living in the proposed areas.

The appellate authority said in a written statement:

No public hearing was conducted in the areas affected due to the proposed mega project in Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Neither did the affected persons have any access to the executive summary of the project in the notified place, nor did they have any opportunity to participate in public hearing and express their view on the environment impact of the area.

The National Environmental Appellate Authority, set up by an Act, hears appeals from aggrieved/affected persons against the grant of environmental clearances by the Union government to projects across the country. It is a body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests and is headed by a former Director General of Forests.

According to the report, the authority (A bench comprising of J C Kala, Dr I V Manivannan and Kaushlendra Prasad), which heard the case for about one year, passed the judgment on December 19. Now, the Andhra government will have to talk with the two other governments or in other case it will have to redraw the design of the project. It means that the delay in the project is certain in any case.