Bhubaneswar: Five Left parties in the state Saturday appealed to Governor Ganeshi Lal to use his good offices and prevail upon the Centre to ask Chhattisgarh government to stop construction of dams and barrages on the upstream of River Mahanadi.
Supporters of CPI, CPIM, CPI (ML) Liberation, SUCI and AIFB who sat on a dharna in front of the Governor’s House in support of their demand later submitted a memorandum to the Governor demanding free flow of Mahanadi water to the state till the Mahanadi Tribunal delivers its judgement.
The memorandum said the Chhattisgarh government has been constructing several dams and barrages on the upstream of Mahanadi illegally since 2003 to provide water to industrial houses without consulting the Odisha government.
During the last three years or more there have been widespread protests in Odisha against arbitrary construction of dams and barrages by the Chhattisgarh government.
The Left leaders said Mahanadi is the lifeline of 2.5 crore people of Odisha and people of 15 districts depend upon the river for their livelihood, drinking water, irrigation, cattle feeding, industry and power generation.
They further said although a tribunal has been constituted to decide the water sharing issues between Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the neighbouring state is going ahead with the construction of dams and barrages leading to reduced water flow to the state.
If the water flow is reduced further, it would create a crisis for the people of Odisha, they said and appealed to the governor to intervene in to the matter in the interest.
UNI
