Polavaram Project

Subject: Geography

Section: Mapping

Context- The Polavaram irrigation project, set to be operationalised by April 2022.

Concept-

The Polavaram irrigation project, set to be operationalised by April 2022, will displace the largest number of people in India’s history of such projects.
Once completed, it will uproot 106,006 families across 222 villages in Andhra Pradesh.
The displaced villages are notified scheduled areas because they have a considerable tribal population.
Recognition of their forest rights is another major concern among the tribal population.

About Polavaram Project:

The present Polavaram Irrigation Project is a modified proposal of the Ramapada Sagar Project.
It is an under-construction multi-purpose irrigation National project on the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh.
It will facilitate an inter-basin water transfer from the Godavari River to the Krishna river through its Right canal.
Its reservoir spreads in parts of Chhattisgarh and Orissa States also.
The project is a multipurpose major terminal reservoir project for the development of Irrigation, Hydropower and drinking water facilities.
The project was started in 2008, accorded national status in 2014 in the Andhra Pradesh Bifurcation Act.
The Andhra Pradesh government extended the completion date to the 2022 Kharif season.

The Godavari River:

The Godavari is the largest Peninsular river system. It is also called the Dakshin Ganga.
It rises in the Nasik district of Maharashtra and discharges its water into the Bay of Bengal.
The Godavari basin extends over states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, Puducherry.
The Pravara, Manjira and Maner are right bank tributaries and the Purna, Pranhita, Indravathi and Sabari are important left-bank tributaries.