Bhubaneswar: Inter-state river water dispute was raised in the house Wednesday by senior BJD legislators Debi Prasad Mishra and Amar Prasad Satpathy.
Drawing the attention of the house, the draft River Basin Management Bill 2018 of the Centre, Mishra alleged that the bill had been drafted in violation of the state’s interest.
“There are 13 major rivers in Odisha, and Brahmani and Baitarani are separate rivers. However, these two rivers are shown as one in the new policy. Baitarani river, which is 1,400 km long, is spread across 40 sq km in Jharkhand. As per the new policy, the Jharkhand government can interfere in Odisha government’s decisions if it decides to construct anything on these rivers,” the senior legislator said.
Speaking about the Mahanadi river, the BJD legislator asserted that there should be a policy which is independent of the inter-state river water dispute.
“Mahanadi is the lifeline of our state. Due to the water dispute between Odisha and Jharkhand, farmers and fishermen are facing a lot of problems in the non-monsoon period,” he said.
Mahanadi river water is shared by five states – Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The governments of Odisha and Chhattisgarh are at loggerheads over sharing of water of the Mahanadi river. The dispute began in July 2016 and the case is now pending in a tribunal constituted to resolve the issue.
Joining Mishra, Badachana MLA Amar Satpathy said this is an important issue and it should be discussed in the house. Otherwise, once the bill is passed in parliament, the state may have to face problems, he said.
Speaker Surya Narayan Patro directed water resources minister to take note of this and bring it to the floor of the house for discussion in the due procedure.
The Centre has brought the River Basin Management Bill last year. The bill is supposed to replace the River Boards Act 1956. The legislation proposes to set up 13 river-basin authorities.
PNN
