BHUBANESWAR: The Mahanadi Bachao Andolan (MBA) on Sunday requested Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to convene an all party meeting to decide on the future course of action on Odisha’s dispute with Chhattisgarh over Mahanadi river water following the silence maintained by the Centre on formation of a tribunal to adjudicate the matter.
A resolution passed at the all party meeting convened by the MBA urged the Chief Minister to lead the movement on the issue. Two senior BJD leaders, former minister and vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra and Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Deb, attended the meeting. However, the BJP remained absent from the meeting.
The all party meeting decided that the issue should be raised in the State Assembly as well as in the Parliament during the ensuing winter session. A five-point resolution was also passed at the meeting to put pressure on the Centre to constitute a tribunal to adjudicate the dispute.
It was decided that a demonstration will be held in front of the Raj Bhawan over the issue. A resolution passed at the meeting demanded that construction activities by Chhattisgarh should be stopped till the tribunal gave its judgement over the dispute.
Criticising the BJP for not attending the meeting, Mishra alleged that the Centre has remained silent on the issue of formation of a tribunal only to allow the Chhattisgarh Government to complete its ongoing barrages and dams over Mahanadi. Deb said the BJD will continue its fight against construction activities undertaken by the Chhattisgarh Government at all forums.
Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik also criticised the BJP for avoiding the all party meeting only to facilitate the Chhattisgarh to carry on its construction activities.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra said unless the Chief Minister is present in the all party meeting, it will not be fruitful. He, however, said any organisation taking such an initiative is a move to be welcomed. “I also support their call to the Chief Minister to convene an all party meeting to discuss the issue,” he said.
“The Centre has violated the Constitution by not forming a tribunal for Mahanadi. A proposal, condemning the Union Government’s stand, has been passed and we will take to the streets during the Assembly session to raise our concerns,” Sudarshan Das, convenor of MBA said.The Chief Minister, on Saturday in New Delhi, reiterated Odisha’s demand of constituting a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi river dispute with neighbouring Chhattisgarh at the 12th Standing Committee meeting of the Inter-State Council.
Former minister Ganeswar Behera and former MP Anant Narayan Sethi (both Cong), former union minister Braja Kishore Tripathy, former MP Shivaji Patnaik, Ramakrushna Panda and Narayan Reddy (both CPI) and Arjya Kumar Gyanendra of Trinamool Congress were among others who attended the meeting.