Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 7: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday proposed to attend the tripartite meeting September 17 involving the Centre, Orissa and Chhattisgarh to resolve the Mahanadi water sharing dispute.
“The chief minister has proposed to the Centre to convene the tripartite meeting September 17,” said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
CMO officials said a preparatory meeting will be held at the Secretariat here September 12.
With the Mahanadi dispute between Orissa and Chhattisgarh escalating, Union water resources minister Uma Bharti in August last week had called for a meeting with the chief ministers of both the states. She had asked both states to fix a mutually convenient date between September 10 and 20 to discuss the Mahanadi water issue.
The tripartite meeting was proposed after both sides failed to reach a consensus on formation of a joint control panel as decided in the July 29 tripartite meeting at New Delhi to settle the dispute.
The state government has also sought full details from Chhattisgarh on projects the neighbouring state has taken up ‘unilaterally’ in the Mahanadi upper catchment area.
After a BJP team from Orissa met Uma Bharti a fortnight ago, it was decided to invite the chief ministers of the two states to Delhi for the meeting. The BJP delegation led by Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had expressed concern over the developments taking place over the Mahanadi issue and it sought assurance from the Centre that Orissa would get its due supply of water from the river.
Bharti had also told the delegation that she has asked officials of her ministry to ensure that Chhattisgarh shared all information sought by Orissa before the chief ministers’ meet.
Orissa has been accusing Chhattisgarh of unilaterally constructing projects on the upstream of Mahanadi which caused decline in the flow of its water to the state.
The Opposition in the state organised a state-wide bandh and the ruling BJD staged agitations against construction of projects on the river in Chhattisgarh.
