Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has once again Tuesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi for early constitution of the tribunal to resolve Mahanadi water dispute.
In his letter to Modi, Naveen has mentioned about the dual stand of the Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) on constitution of the tribunal to resolve the water dispute between Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
“My government has filed the complaint November 19, 2016 under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, seeking appointment of a tribunal to adjudicate the water disputes with regard to Mahanadi river. The MoWR, which is the administrative department dealing with the matter, took a clear stand that the water disputes cannot be settled by negotiations and therefore, a tribunal under the provisions of Section 4(1) of the Act of 1956 is required to be constituted,” Naveen said in his letter.
Quoting the written statement made twice by Union Minister of State for Water Resources in the Rajya Sabha in this regard, the Chief Minister said, “The counsel appearing for the Union of India also assured before the Supreme Court on 09.10.2017 that a Notification will be issued before 19.11.2017 constituting a tribunal.”
However, he said, to the utter surprise of the people of Orissa for whom Mahanadi is a lifeline, the MoWR filed a written statement in the apex court, changing its stand completely by stating that the tribunal cannot be constituted.
He also informed Modi that the Union Ministry has wholly misread the Agreement of 1983 with regard to the functions of the Joint Control Board (JCB). In fact, none of those joint projects were taken up and therefore, the JCB has not even been constituted in last 35 years, the CM pointed out.
“I may emphasize that the federal scheme of our Constitution does not countenance forcing the unwilling state to negotiate or deliberate particularly in a situation like this, where the opposite state has been using negotiation only as a handle to delay the adjudication to complete its projects and create a fait accompli,” read the letter.
Naveen made it clear that his government does not see any purpose in further negotiating with the Chhattisgarh, which is unilaterally constructing barrages on the river.
PNN
