Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Thursday demanded that all decisions taken at the meeting convened in New Delhi to resolve the long-standing Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh be made public, questioning whether the meeting would lead to any concrete outcome.
Addressing a press conference atpart headquarters here BJD MLA and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said the Mahanadi water dispute was a matter of vital importance to Odisha and the people of the state had the right to know the outcome of the meeting chaired by the union Home Minister and attended by the Chief Ministers of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
He demanded that the decisions taken at the meeting and any agreement or memorandum of understanding signed between the two states be made public.
Sahoo said the meeting should not merely be held as a symbolic exercise with the claim that the dispute had been resolved, particularly when Panchayat and municipal elections in Odisha were approaching.
He said the BJP governments at the Centre, Odisha and Chhattisgarh had created expectations of an early resolution of the dispute following the 2024 elections, when the BJP came to power in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. However, no significant progress had been made in resolving the issue, he claimed.
“Even after two-and-a-half years of the BJP government in Odisha, the dispute remains where it was,” Sahoo said, adding that there was still no clarity on whether the issue would be resolved through the tribunal or bilateral negotiations.
Sahoo alleged that the dispute had arisen following the construction of barrages, anicuts and other structures upstream of the Mahanadi by Chhattisgarh. During the non-monsoon period, the flow of water in the Mahanadi and its tributaries was declining, he claimed.
He further alleged that during the current monsoon, Chhattisgarh opened gates after the water level in the Mahanadi rose without informing Odisha, resulting in flooding in the Mahanadi and its tributaries in the state.
This, he claimed, indicated a lack of adequate coordination between the governments of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Sahoo said the meeting was important but several questions needed to be answered, including whether Odisha would receive the required quantity of water during the non-monsoon period and what would happen to the barrages allegedly constructed illegally upstream.
He also sought disclosure of the quantity of Mahanadi water being supplied by the Chhattisgarh government to industries.
“The decisions taken at the meeting and any agreement signed between the two sides must be made public,” Sahoo said, stressing that the meeting should result in concrete measures rather than remain a symbolic exercise.