BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has stepped in to speed up resolution of the Mahanadi river water sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh, with Union Home minister Amit Shah set to chair a meeting with the chief ministers of both the states on October 1.
Advocate general Pitambar Acharya on Monday said the meeting will take forward talks on equitable sharing of Mahanadi water between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
“The secretary of Central Water Commission has placed details of the last two rounds of talks before the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal as per its direction and the Tribunal has taken it on record. The two chief ministers will now meet under the chairmanship of the Union Home minister. Odisha has always said the dispute can be settled through mutual understanding,” Acharya said.
The development comes barely 10 days after Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and met his counterpart Mohan Charan Majhi in Bhubaneswar on September 20.
The two chief ministers held discussions over the matter for more than an hour. After the meeting, Sai had said there was no major problem between the two states over Mahanadi waters and expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved soon.
He had also said that the chief ministers and officials of Odisha and Chhattisgarh had earlier held discussions in Delhi and agreed to accept the CWC’s recommendations if they were beneficial to both states.
The dispute over Mahanadi river waters has been pending before the Tribunal since 2018.