The natural flow of quality water with adequate quantity is important in the life of a river as it is told that rivers must be without borders. The Mahanadi river water sharing issue between Odisha and Chhattisgarh is waiting for a trial before a tribunal. This would ensure natural flow of the river water in quantity and quality in the downstream under true spirit of resource federalism and in consonance with international laws over right to water.
The Constitution of India under entry 56 of list 1 of 7th schedule says about the regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys in public interest. The Constitution under Article 262 has made provision to resolve the inter-State iver water dispute (ISRWD) and a Central legislation, such as Interstate River Water Disputes Act 1956, has been enacted to that effect. The Union Ministry of Water Resources sources say so far eight tribunals have been set up to settle water disputes among States under the Act.
In case of the Mahanadi river though a draft cabinet note has been prepared by Centre to set up a tribunal to resolve the dispute among Odisha and Chhattisgarh over the water sharing but till date, it has not materialized. The delay in decision has been seen as detrimental to the interest of Odisha who filed a complaint as an affected party under Section 3 of the ISRWD Act (complain by state Government as to water disputes). The Central Government has moved for tribunal after the failure of the negotiation committee constituted by the Central Government in arriving at a resolution of the dispute through consensus by both the States.
There has been growing disputes over river water sharing by States such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP, UP, Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh and it has been questioning the existing inter-State water sharing arrangements under provision of law and it is also observed that many of the tribunals are being engaged for a long time in adjudication.
Considering the inadequacy of the ISRWD Act, amendment has been made in 2002 and it has been further proposed for a major amendment by the Parliament. The Interstate River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill 2017 introduced in March 2017 in Lok Sabha proposes single permanent tribunal with multiple benches. The tribunal will have one Chairperson, one Vice Chairperson, and not more than six other members. The bill provides appointment of assessors to provide technical support to the tribunal from among experts not below the rank of Chief Engineers serving in the Central Water Engineering Service. There will be fixed time limit up to four and a half years as total time period for adjudication of a dispute. The decision of the tribunal shall be final and binding with no requirement of publication in the official gazette which is a provision with existing Act. The bill proposes provision of resolve of dispute amicably by negotiations through a dispute resolution committee before appearing to the tribunal. It puts emphasis on availability of all related data of the river basin at national level by an agency appointed by the Central Government in order to facilitate the decision.
However, the proposed legislation has been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on water resources and still is in the process to become an Act.
In the context of the ongoing conflict over Mahanadi river water, it is important to look back at the history of the Hirakud dam in early 50s when Dr BR Ambedkar as Cabinet Minister from 1942 to 46 in Viceroy’s Council in charge of Labour, Irrigation and Electricity had played a major role in formulation of national policy relating to water and hydropower. He was instrumental in setting up laws and national institutions to address the issues of water sharing dispute by States under a federal Government.
Dr Ambedkar visited Cuttack in the year 1945 to attend the conference on water management of eastern States. He was the leading architect of Damodar River valley and Hirakud dam project over the Mahanadi, the longest earthen dam in independent India. The dam has been contributing to our economy in many ways. In his presidential speech at Cuttack, he gave stress on water management through building reservoirs, developing canal irrigation, and small hydropower projects for development of agriculture and industry in Odisha. He told that just building embankments to control flood is not enough while he was critical about the Odisha flood inquiry committee report of 1928 and subsequent report of 1937 and 1939 with involvement of eminent engineers such as Adams William and M Visvesvarayya. He was more concerned about the utilization of excess water flows into the sea. He proposed construction of three dams over Mahanadi at Naraj, Tikarpada and Sambalpur although he was concerned too over the submergence of land and its impact. Many of the plans proposed by Ambedkar during those days are still relevant in the context of water management of Odisha considering its huge utilization of surface water in the absence of proper irrigation system in the State.
The natural flow of river from the upstream State to the downstream is important in the context of climate change and many more growing environmental challenges of today. The unplanned and non-transparent way of constructions developed by the upstream State such as dam, barrage, reservoir, water harvesting structures and other actions would surely have an impact on the natural flow of water to its destination. It is told that this action by the upstream State is driven by commercial motive to serve the corporate houses for profit and depriving common people of their natural right to water. It is argued that the construction activities of Chhatisgarh have not been discussed for consent with the Centre and the affected State of Odisha in downstream violating the national laws and international conventions. The mining and industrial companies operating in the region are looking for maximum use of surface water sources and the State Governments have been more concerned about the corporates than the need of the common people.
The change in the flow has been seriously affecting the biodiversity conservation and sustainable water use.
Surface river water pollution has been emerged as a major issue with almost all rivers of the State such as Brahmani, Daya, Mahanadi, and Kuakhai and many more. The ground water level has gone down in mining areas with loss of perennial stream and excess tapping of ground water by industries in industrial areas such as Kalinganagar where the Brahmani river water has been supplied to the mineral based industries there. The chromite mining companies have been polluting both surface and ground water in the Brahamnai river valley by discharging hexavalent chromium. So it is not just quantity of flow of river water but the quality of river water is equally important. The concern over Mahanadi must broaden to other di0plorable conditions of other rivers of the State.
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