Naveen writes to Modi on Mahanadi again

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the war of words between the BJD and the BJP over the Mahanadi river water dispute between Odisha and Chhattigarh intensified, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi again for constitution of a tribunal under Section 4(1) of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

“I once again request you to kindly issue instructions for constitution of a tribunal by issuing necessary notification under Section 4(1) of the ISRWD Act to protect the interest of four and a half crore people of Odisha,” Naveen said in the letter to the Prime Minister.

Emphasising the need for constitution of a tribunal to resolve the dispute which is a mandatory statutory obligation of the Centre as per the Act, the Chief Minister said the Odisha Government does not see any purpose in further negotiating with the “recalcitrant State of Chhattisgarh” which has unilaterally and surreptitiously gone ahead with construction of dams and barrages in Mahanadi basin far exceeding its share of water. The Chief Minister said though Chhattisgarh’s share of Mahanadi water is 8.33 million acre feet (MAF) in minimum flow and additional 2.5 MAF of surplus flow totalling 10.83 MAF, its ultimate plan is to utilise 27.48 MAF.

“I may emphasise that the federal scheme of our Constitution does not countenance forcing the unwilling State to negotiate or deliberate particularly in a situation like this, where the opposite State has been using negotiation only as a handle to delay the adjudication to complete its projects and create a fait accompli,” he said.

Stating that the Union Water Resources Ministry took a clear stand that the water dispute cannot be settled by negotiation and a tribunal under the provisions of the ISRWD Act is required to be constituted, the Chief Minister said an identical statement in this regard was made twice by Union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Kumar Balyan in Rajya Sabha on July 31, 2017 and in Lok Sabha on August 10, 2017.

Besides, the counsel appearing for the Centre also assured before the Supreme Court on October 9, 2017 that a notification will be issued before November 19, 2017 for constituting a tribunal, Naveen said and added that to the utter surprise of people of Odisha, the Ministry of Water Resources filed a written statement on December 4, 2017 changing its stand completely by stating that the tribunal cannot be constituted.

“This volte face is not only surprising but prima facie smacks of considerations other than what is legal or what is just and fair,” he said and added that the pretext used by the Union Ministry is the agreement of 1983 under which the Odisha and Madhya Pradesh had agreed to constitute a joint control board (JCB).

Stating that the Ministry has completely misread the agreement of 1983 with regard to the functions of the JCB, the Chief Minister said the Water Resources department of the Odisha Government has clearly pointed out that the JCB is not intended to resolve the inter-state disputes on sharing of Mahanadi water. The JCB was intended for monitoring of certain joint projects then contemplated in 1983 by both the governments, he said and added none of these projects was taken up and the JCB was not constituted in the last 35 years.