New Delhi, Sept 17: With a failure of desired outcome from the tripartite meeting held today at the Shram Shakti Bhawan in New Delhi, the Chhattisgarh government has refused to stop construction work of barrages on the upper catchment of the Mahanadi River. Even the Union Water Resource Minister, Uma Bharti failed to conclude the meeting with both-Odisha and Chhattisgarh government on a mutual decision.
Chhattisgarh government, in its statement said Odisha has violated the rules on water sharing in several rivers and by making the meeting more complicated, Chhattisgarh asked Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to stop the construction work on those rivers.
While asked to stop the project work of barrages on Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh, the Chhattisgarh government refused to this and stated that project work has almost been completed.
Even though, Uma Bharti suggested halting of all the construction work undertaken by both the governments on those rivers for seven days, both governments refused to do so.
A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will be formed within next week following which another meeting in this regard will be held.
After the meeting, Naveen Patnaik addressed the media and said that he has called for a meeting of the cabinet in Bhubaneswar tomorrow where the decision for further steps will be taken. He also said that he would fight for the interest of Odisha.
Bharti, in her statement said that, Chhattisgarh does not have any master plan regarding the construction work and informed that she requires more time to solve the dispute.
Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, stated this as ‘nonissue’ and said as Odisha keeps the sluice gates open to let flood water out of Hirakud in rainy season, it should focus on infrastructure for water storage rather than blaming Chhattisgarh. He also emphasized for formation of interstate river board that can look into the water sharing issues and come up with a solution.
