Mahanadi Tribunal tenure extended by two years

BHUBANESWAR: The Centre on Thursday extended the tenure of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal for a period of two years upto March 11, 2023.

Official sources said that the tribunal was required to give its report as required under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act (ISRWD), 1956 within three years of its constitution by March 11, 2021.

As it could not submit its report or give any decision within the stipulated period, its tenure has been extended by two years or till the submission of the report, whichever is earlier, as per the provisions of the Act.

The Odisha government had filed a complaint with the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation with a request to the Centre for adjudication of water disputes in respect of river Mahanadi and its basin between Odisha and Chhattisgarh and refer the complaint to the tribunal under Section 5(1) of the ISRWD Act, 1956.

The Centre had formed a negotiation committee with members from both the states and experts to resolve the dispute. However, the Odisha government did not participate in the meetings demanding the constitution of a tribunal to resolve the dispute.

The Centre constituted Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal on March 12, 2018 following intervention of the Supreme Court.

The tribunal was mandated to decide on water sharing among states on the basis of the overall availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin, contribution and present utilisation of water resources in each state and the potential for future development.

Convenor of Mahanadi Bachao Andolan Sudarsan Das criticised the State government for not being able to get even an interim order from the Tribunal asking Chhattisgarh government to stop construction activities in projects blocking Mahanadi river water to  Odisha.

He said that construction activities in Chhattisgarh are reducing non-monsoon flow of water in Odisha.  He alleged that the tribunal had only 19 sittings in which only the common information format was finalised.