Godavari Valley Area and Covid-19

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for directing the Andhra Pradesh government to conduct Covid-19 tests among the tribal population living along the Godavari river valley area.

 Godavari river valley area, where the tribal people live is close to the Polavaram irrigation project area.
 Covid-19 lockdown has been blatantly violated for the construction
Lack of awareness among the tribal people— Konda reddis, Koyas and Kolam are the popular tribes living in godavari valley.

• Konda reddis and Kolam are part of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG).

Polavaram Irrigation Project

• Polavaram Project is located in Andhra Pradesh on the river Godavari, near Polavaram village.
• It is a multi-purpose irrigation project as the project once completed will provide Irrigation benefits and will generate HydroElectric Power. In addition, this project will also supply drinking water.
• The project is multipurpose major terminal reservoir project on river Godavari for development of Irrigation, Hydropower and drinking water facilities to East Godavari, Vishakhapatnam, West Godavari and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh.
• It will facilitate an inter-basin transfer to the Krishna river basin through its Right canal.
• It will also provide indirect benefits such as development of Pisciculture (breeding and rearing of fish), tourism and urbanisation.
• The Project has been accorded national project status by the union government in 2014 (under Section-90 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014).