BHUBANESWAR: Water conservationist and national advisor of the Mahanadi Bachao Andolan Rajendra Singh on Thursday urged the state government to take the initiative to resolve the dispute over Mahanadi river water between Odisha and Chhattisgarh through dialogue.
Singh told mediapersons here that tribunals have always failed to resolve river water disputes as has been the case with the Kaveri dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which has dragged on for years. “With BJP governments at the Centre, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, this is an opportune time for resolution of the dispute through talks,” he said.
Singh said that the triple-engine sarkar now has no excuse to drag the dispute on further. Referring to the statement of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi that he has discussed the issue twice with his Chhattisgarh counterpart Vishnu Deo Sai, Singh said the chief minister should make the discussions public.
Besides, the Odisha government should also formulate a river policy to protect the interests of the state. The policy should ensure that there is no encroachment on river land and industrial waste is not to be released into rivers. Voicing concern over Mahanadi river drying up on the Odisha side, Singh said the same fate awaits other rivers including Baitarani if immediate steps are not taken by the government.
Convenor of the organisation Sudarsan Das said the Mahanadi River Water Disputes Tribunal is not expected to give its award in the near future. During the last eight years of the tribunal, the Odisha government has not even been able to get even an interim stay on construction of dams on Mahanadi by the Chhattisgarh government, he said.
He said state and national-level conventions on Mahanadi river water dispute will be organised in January and February respectively to chalk out a broad outline for resolution of the dispute.