BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Wednesday announced formation of a high-level committee headed by deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo for resolution of the Mahanadi river water dispute between the state and neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
The eight-member committee, formed on the direction of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, will examine all relevant aspects relating to Mahanadi river and provide necessary policy direction to the ongoing efforts at the technical and administrative levels in the state.
“In view of the ongoing deliberations and proceedings before the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal considering the complexity and emotional significance of the Mahanadi water issue, the government has constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of deputy chief minister, KV Singh Deo,” said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Besides Singh Deo, other members of the committee are, Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari, Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan, Industries minister Sampad Chandra Swain, government chief whip Saroj Kumar Pradhan, former minister and BJD MLA Niranjan Pujari, former minister and BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra and Congress MLA Sofia Firdous.
The Law minister had said in the Assembly that a joint technical committee (JTC) of the two states recently met at Raipur to review the flow data, submissions and compliance aspects of the dispute. Earlier, six JTCs had met six times to discuss several aspects of the dispute. Before the technical rounds, chief ministers of both the states had held formal and informal meetings, followed by interactions between the chief secretaries in New Delhi in August and November.
The Mohan Majhi government in the state has started the process to end the dispute through negotiation as there was no progress in dispute resolution through the Mahanadi River Water Disputes Tribunal since 2018. The next hearing of the tribunal is on December 20.