State govt responsible for water crisis in Odisha, says Union Minister Tudu

KENDRAPARA: Senior BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu criticised the Odisha government for the water crisis in the state while addressing a meeting on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya at Pattamundai in Kendrapara district on Sunday.

Condemning the government’s repeated failure in solving the water issue, the minister alleged that the BJD government’s lack of intent aggravated the problem. Water is a state subject and it is the duty of the state government to address the crisis. Most of the rivers here run dry during summers due to the slipshod attitude of the state government. We are ready to help but the administration has never approached us for the same,” Tudu alleged.

The groundwater level in many parts of the state is declining because of increased demand for fresh water. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) periodically monitors the groundwater levels throughout the country on a regional scale through a network of monitoring wells, he added.

“Instead of building barrages and dams on the Mahanadi river to conserve water, the Odisha government is unnecessarily blaming the Centre for the crisis. Besides, interlinking of rivers will also solve the issue but many state governments are opposing the same because of which the project is moving at a snail’s pace,” the union minister pointed out.

Interlinking rivers is a way to transfer excess water from regions which receive high rainfall to those which are drought-prone. This way both floods and droughts can be controlled and water crisis issues solved. The project will also help generate hydropower, Tudu further stated.