BHUBANESWAR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Saturday assured his Odisha counterpart Mohan Charan Majhi of finding an amicable solution to the water dispute between the two states through discussions.
Sai who visited the state to pay tribute to former Union minister Dr Debendra Pradhan paid a courtesy call to Majhi at Lok Seba Bhawan discussed various matters of mutual interest and cooperation between the two states.
During the meeting, Majhi called upon his counterpart to find an early solution to the Mahanadi river water dispute considering the interests of the people of both the states which share common language and cultural ties.
The dispute revolves around the sharing of Mahanadi river water between Odisha and Chhattisgarh, with Odisha expressing concerns over the latter’s construction of dams and weirs upstream, which has affected the flow of water downstream and impacted drinking water supply and irrigation facilities in Odisha. The Chhattisgarh CM said he has always been in favour of finding an amicable solution through discussions.
Later, addressing a function organised by Water Resources department to observe the World Water Day here, Majhi said he was confident of an early solution to the water dispute as the BJP is in government in the two state as well as the Centre.
The CM inaugurated 100 check dams constructed at a cost of `80 crore benefiting 20 districts and dedicated four minor irrigation projects - one each in Keonjhar, Ganjam, Gajapati and Mayurbhanj, with a total expenditure of Rs 61.53 crore. He also laid the foundation stone for 18 mega lift irrigation projects worth Rs 1,227 crore, aiming to irrigate 27,337 hectare land in Angul, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, and Mayurbhanj districts.