Odisha: BJD rejects union minister Nitin Gadkari’s Maha proposal

BHUBANESWAR: AS the Mahanadi river water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh intensified, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday rejected Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari’s proposal for formation of a Joint Control Board  (JCB) for early resolution of the issue.  Criticising the Centre for not restraining the Chhattisgarh Government from construction activities over Mahanadi river, BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra, party MPs Pinaki Mishra and Pratap Deb and government deputy chief whip Rohit Pujari alleged that the Centre is trying to buy time for the BJP-ruled State in view of the Assembly elections later this year.

The Ministry of  Environment, Forest and Climate Change had pulled up the Chhattisgarh Government for not informing it or the Odisha Government about construction of six barrages over Mahanadi river, Lok Sabha member Pinaki Mishra said, while referring to a letter written by a Director of the Ministry to Principal Secretary in the Chhattisgarh Water Resources department.  All the six barrages were constructed by the Chhattisgarh Government in gross contravention of the environmental impact assessment notification, 2006 and its subsequent amendments, he said.

“It is requested to inform the reason for not informing the ministry and the Odisha Government, a riparian State, about construction of the six barrages on Mahanadi, which is an inter-State river,” the letter, written on September 20, 2017 said.

Quoting from the letter, Mishra said a report submitted by the regional office of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Nagpur said Chhattisgarh Government constructed six barrages over a stretch of 120 km. Out of the six barrages, one has been constructed in Raipur district while the remaining five have been constructed in Janggir Chapra district. Kalma barrage has been constructed at a distance of approximately 15 km away from the inter-State boundary between Odisha and Chhattisgarh, he said.

The report maintained that the Chhattisgarh Government had not commissioned any studies through an institute of repute on the minimum flow to be maintained in the downstream and impact on flora and fauna in the large area to be submerged over 120 km stretch of the Mahanadi river.Besides, the report said the Central Water Commission (CWC) should also have studied the cumulative impact assessment and carrying capacity of the river, including the multi-purpose Hirakud dam and flow in the 300 km long river up to the estuary.