BHUBANESWAR:AS the ruling BJD reacted sharply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reported statement over Mahanadi water dispute in his May 26 speech at Cuttack, the BJP on Wednesday said Modi’s statement was based on facts.
Countering the BJD allegation that the Prime Minister’s statement on the issue was based on falsehood, spokesperson of State BJP Pitamabar Acharya said the State Government has been hoodwinking the people to cover up its failure.Acharya said Modi only quoted what the State Government has said on the issue. “Is it not a fact that 50 per cent water of river Mahanadi is drained out to the sea and the State Government had done nothing to save the flow of water,” he sought to know from the BJD.
While pointing out that several major irrigation projects are hanging fire for decades, the Prime Minister said the State Government had nothing to use the water of its major rivers for irrigation purpose.The BJP leader dared the BJD to prove the Prime Minister wrong on the 8 irrigation projects of the State out of 99 projects taken up by the Centre for completion.
Since the State Government has utterly failed to build any barrage downstream of Mahanadi leading to water scarcity in Odisha, the BJD is now trying to create a fear in the minds of the people by giving misleading information, he said.