Bhubaneswar, July 27: After the announcement made by the Chhattisgarh chief minister, Raman Singh to go ahead with the construction of projects despite the strict protest put up by the Odisha Government, chief minister, Naveen Patnaik today said the statement made by his Chhattisgarh counterpart is ‘grossly unfortunate’.
Patnaik told media today, this decision made by the Chhattisgarh government violates the canons of the doctrine of Inter-state River sharing between co-basin states and the federal governance. He further said that that he has already taken up the Mahanadi issue with the Prime Minister to provide his intervention thus making a sincere request to the Chhattisgarh government to stop all construction till the issue reaches its resolution point, thus highlighting the fact that Mahanadi is the lifeline of Odisha as it provides livelihood to four crore people of the state.
Notably, Chhattisgarh Government on Wednesday has given its green signal to the project works being carried on the upper catchment of Mahanadi River. Chhattisgarh has the privilege to use Mahanadi River’s water as it’s permitted by the CWC. Currently the state is consuming 25% of the water and no one can oppose the state for the construction of barrage, as informed to media persons by Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. The construction work will start only after getting the approval from CWC. Chhattisgarh would ask for more share on water for irrigation and other purpose in the discussion meeting, he further added.
