Bhubaneswar: The Assembly has unanimously decided to set up a panel on the Mahanadi issue headed by the Leader of the House Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to firmly take up with Centre the matter of appointing a tribunal for quickly resolving the river water dispute between Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Cutting across party lines MLAs Wednesday stressed the need for setting up the Tribunal, which has been delayed by the Centre.
The decision to set up a House panel headed by the CM was decided after discussions on appointing a tribunal on the Mahanadi row. Both Congress and the BJP supported the move. Members of BJD and Congress — BJD chief whip Amar Satpathy, Debi Mishra, as well as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh and others — slammed the Centre’s dillydallying attitude on the Mahanadi issue and not considering the state’s plea to appoint a tribunal.
BJP Legislature Party chief KV Singh Deo came down heavily on the government for sleeping over the matter for the last 18 years.
Last week Speaker Pradip Amat, had okayed formation of the Mahanadi panel to take up the issue with the Centre and President.
PNN
