The Orissa government on Monday said it will move Supreme Court challenging the Centre's approval of forest clearance to Polavaram irrigation project in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh without taking its view.

"We will challenge the decision of the union ministry of environment and forest in the Supreme Court in the next two days and the manner in which it accorded clearance to Polavaram project," water resources department secretary Suresh Mohapatra told reporters here.

Besides seeking the approval to be kept in abeyance, the ministry would be asked to clarify how it approved the revised designs of Polavaram project without taking views of Orissa Government, Mohapatra said.

The project is likely to submerge a large number villages in Orissa's Malkangiri district. At least 25 tribal villages and a large chunk of forest would be inundated there, he said.

Andhra Pradesh government had assured the centre that no portion of Orissa and Chhattisgarh would be submerged due to the Polavaram project.

Claiming that no assessment on Polavaram project's impact on Orissa was made, Mohapatra said no public hearing was also conducted in the villages which would be affected.

"The Orissa government had moved the Supreme Court after the ministry first granted interim approval to the project in 2008. When the case was pending for disposal at the Apex court, how could the environment minister clear the project," he asked.

Meanwhile, chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said he has written to the Centre protesting its plan to accord National Project status to Polavaram.

"We will not allow an inch of Orissa to be inundated by Polavaram project," Patnaik told reporters here.

The project was first mooted during the British rule in 1941.