Polavaram dam: TRS unhappy with ordinance, Telangana shut down

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Telugu Dasam Party (TDP), who have crossed swords over the ambitious Polavaram dam project, are once again in a faceoff over the proposed ordinance on the dam project. An ordinance that paves the way for the transfer of 136 villages, 211 hamlets and seven mandals of the Khammam district to the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, was okayed by the Union Cabinet and is currently with the President. Telangana, meanwhile, faces a large scale shut down which has severely affected normalcy in the state, with the TRS opposing the ordinance tooth and nail. [caption id=“attachment_1548431” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image used for representational purpose only. Firstpost[/caption] The TRS was unhappy with the Cabinet decision and called the move for an ordinance “unconstitutional”. All of Telangana was shut down today in protest of the Cabinet decision – bus services were stopped and people remained stranded with no means of transport. Meanwhile, a TRS party leader told CNN-IBN: “We have appealed for the ordinance not to be passed today. We are also going to appeal to the Supreme Court.” TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu said the TRS-sponsored bandh was only posturing. He called for harmonious participation in the decision-making processes in the run-up to the state’s bifurcation. Why is the Polavaram dam construction such an issue? A Deccan Chronicle article noted: “Majority of leaders of various parties from Telangana have vehemently opposed the construction of the Polavaram dam in its present form, which will submerge 205 villages in Khammam district, most of them being tribal hamlets, warranting large scale displacement of tribal population.”