Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 7: The state government is likely to raise the issue of construction of three projects on the upper-catchment areas of the Mahanadi by the Chhattisgarh government during the 11th Inter-State Council meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi July 16.
The meeting, being held after a gap of ten years, will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Ministers of all the states will interact with the PM during the meeting on a host of issues that will include inter-state relations, internal security and atrocities on the SC and ST communities among others, said officials.
Sources said the state government is likely to raise the issue of the construction of a barrage and a reservoir by the Chhattisgarh government on the Mahanadi’s upper catchment areas, which Orissa has claimed to be a “unilateral move” by the neighbouring state.
Notably, Chhattisgarh has planned three projects on the Mahanadi’s upper catchment areas – the Pairy-Mahanadi intra-state link project; the Tandula Reservoir Augmentation, which has a severe adverse impact on the flow of water into Hirakud reservoir; and a reservoir-based dam on Kelo river adjacent to the Orissa boarder.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently wrote to the PM seeking his immediate intervention in getting the Chhattisgarh government to stop the construction work. In his letter, Patnaik wrote that the Chhattisgarh government’s projects on the Mahanadi’s upper catchment areas will severely affect the lives and livelihood of millions of farmers in at least 15 districts of the state.