As tribunal starts state visit, parties blame each other for Mahanadi row

BHUBANESWAR/JHARSUGUDA: The Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal reached Jharsuguda on Friday for an on-site assessment of various places even as political parties got into a blame game, accusing each other of neglecting the state’s interests.
Senior BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra said while the Naveen Patnaik-led government has been trying to protect the state’s interests on the Mahanadi issue, the two national parties — BJP and Congress — are indifferent to the cause.
“In Chhattisgarh, first the BJP-led government and then the Congress-led government have been hurriedly building projects on the Mahanadi, ignoring norms. Despite Chhattisgarh’s arbitrary behaviour, the BJD government has been fighting for the state’s rights,” Mishra said.
Addressing a news conference, former chief secretary turned Congress leader Bijay Patnaik said the government owes an answer to the people of Odisha on steps taken to conserve the water of Mahanadi. “The government should take steps to protect the water-carrying capacity of the river and undertake afforestation on its banks so that the soil remains intact. The government should explain why it is not being done,” Patnaik said.
The Congress leader said the government should also release water in canals within seven days. “If the state government fails to resolve the problem of water shortage, the Congress will launch an agitation,” he said. Patnaik also suggested the tribunal should pass an interim order so that non-monsoon flow in the river is maintained.
BJP leader Thakur Ranjjit Singh said the BJD made the issue complicated by not listening to the Centre’s advice when then Jalshakti minister Nitin Gadkari had suggested resolution of the dispute by holding a tripartite meeting. Similarly, the Congress is doing politics on the issue instead of advising Chhattisgarh’s Congress government to respect Odisha’s concerns.
Mahanadi Bachao Andolan (MBA), an outfit working for Mahanadi’s conservation, has announced its plan to launch a satyagraha on Saturday pressing the tribunal to issue an interim order ensuring adequate flow in the river during the non-monsoon period.
As part of its nine-day field visit, the tribunal led by former judge of Supreme Court Justice A M Khanwilkar is scheduled to go to the proposed Tikira Link to Brahmani and Parbatigiri Megalift at Rampela on Saturday.