Odisha: Centre for CMs’ meet, BJD for PM mediation

BHUBANESWAR:  Politics over the Mahanadi river water dispute intensified even as Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said the chief ministers of Odisha and Chhattisgarh should once again come to the discussion table to sort out the issue.Talking to a private television channel, the Union Minister said the Prime Minister also wants the dispute to be resolved through discussion and has asked the Water Resources Minister to arrange a Chief Minister level talk soon. Pradhan said in case the chief minister-level talks fail, a tribunal will be formed as per existing law.

The Union Minister said a new Bill has already been introduced under which a tribunal will be constituted to address all the inter-state water disputes.BJD Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya, however, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written more than one letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard and demanded formation of a tribunal to resolve the dispute as official and chief minister level talks have failed.Acharya demanded that talks now should be held at the level of the Prime Minister to resolve the issue. “The Prime Minister should intervene and convene a meeting between the two chief ministers to arrive at a solution,” he said. 

Referring to the new Bill brought by the Centre in Parliament to establish a single tribunal for adjudication of all river water disputes, Acharya said it is a time taking process as the Bill has been referred to the standing of committee of the Water Resources Ministry. He said till the Bill is passed, the Centre should announce constitution of a tribunal on Mahanadi river water dispute. Later, it can be subsumed in the single tribunal when the new Bill becomes an Act.

The Rajya Sabha member said as per the existing Inter State River Water Disputes Act, there is a time limit for formation of tribunal. Alleging that the Centre is changing its stand regularly on the issue, Acharya said it had announced in the Parliament that the Centre has decided to set up a tribunal as negotiations failed.