New Delhi: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) members have decided to take on the ministry of water resources and river development in the budget session of Parliament commencing Wednesday for disputed issues of Mahanadi and Polavaram.
A meeting of BJD parliamentarians here Tuesday thrashed out a strategy for the Budget session and decided to accord priority to Mahanadi and Polavaram issues in the House.
“We have drawn a strategy which concerns Mahanadi and Polavaram river issues. We will raise the concerns of the state in Parliament,” Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi (BJD) told Orissa POST.
On being asked why the state is opposed to the constitution of negotiation committee for river disputes as announced by Uma Bharti-led ministry, he said, “What is there to negotiate. The first thing they should have done is to halt ongoing projects over Mahanadi in the upper catchment areas of Chattisgarh.”
The Biju Janata Dal parliamentary party had raised the Mahanadi water and other issues in the winter session of Parliament vigorously and protested the moves of Chattisgarh government as ‘‘blatant violation of established norms.’’
The party, however, refrained from commenting on whether the protests over Mahanadi and Polavaram would be extended beyond the precincts of Parliament house where the participating MPs displayed placards and registered their protests outside the Parliament House.
When Orissa POST tried to elicit a response of BJD over the proposed inter-state water disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which may adversely affect Orissa, Majhi parried the question. He said the MPs would look into the content of the bill.
Party focus on Budget
The BJD parliamentary party is keeping a vigil over contents of Union Budget slated for presentation Wednesday. “We will look into the content of the Budget Wednesday and see how the proposals will impact Orissa. We will raise the issue accordingly,” Majhi said.
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