Favour to C’garh: BJD

BHUBANESWAR: The rejection of the State’s demand by the Centre for constitution of a tribunal to adjudicate the Mahanadi river water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh continued to draw flak from ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) with Rajya Sabha member and party’s spokesperson Pratap Deb describing it as a move to favour Chhattisgarh which is going to polls next year.

Describing the move as complete betrayal of Odisha, Deb referred to the silence of the Centre for the last one year over the issue. “What was the Centre doing for the last one year,” the BJD leader asked.
Referring to the BJP’s stand that a Bill envisaging a single tribunal for all river water disputes is pending in the Parliament, Deb said the Centre should constitute the tribunal now and transfer it to the single tribunal when the Bill will become Act. The Bill was introduced in the Parliament in February, 2017 and is pending in the standing committee now, he said and added that the Centre is delaying the entire process for the benefit of Chhattisgarh. Stating that the Centre’s stand in the affidavit filed at the Supreme Court has violated the law, Deb said as per the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the Centre has no authority to say yes or no to the demand by a State for setting up a tribunal. “When negotiation has failed, the Centre is legally bound to constitute the tribunal,” he said.

When negotiations at the chief secretary and chief minister levels failed, the Centre should have taken the initiative to resolve the crisis at the Prime Minister’s level, Deb said and added that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the dispute. However, the Centre did not take any step to resolve the dispute, he said.

Two crore Odisha people to be affected: CPI

Bhubaneswar: The CPI on Sunday came down heavily on the Centre for not accepting Odisha’s demand to form a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh. “It is unfair on the part of the Centre not to accept Odisha’s demand for formation of a tribunal to resolve Mahanadi river water issue with Chhattisgarh,” CPI national secretary D Raja told mediapersons here. If the Centre continues to delay constitution of the tribunal, it would amount to extending favour to Chhattisgarh and letting down Odisha, he said and added that if the dispute is not resolved soon, the livelihood of around two crore people in Odisha would be in jeopardy. Referring to the Gujarat election, Raja criticised the BJP for resorting to a “dangerous” election campaign.  He alleged that farmers in Gujarat are highly agitated, while traders and entrepreneurs are equally unhappy following measures like demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax. “BJP seeks to polarise and divide people on communal and caste lines for votes,” he said.