Bhubaneswar, Jan 4: Even as the Mahanadi river dispute continues, a fresh row over the centre’s plan to fetch water from Brahmaputra for Mahanadi basin through river linking project has stoked fresh controversy as it is being alleged that the Centre has kept the State in dark over the proposal. As per the plan of the ministry of Water Resources, the Brahmaputra would not be linked to Mahanadi directly, but through Ganga (Faraka)-Damodar-Subarnarekha and Subarnarekha-Mahanadi link. The Mahanadi-Brahmpaputra link subject featured in the special committee meeting held in November. However, the State government alleged that Centre has not apprised the State about the project formally even as the feasibility report for all these projects has been prepared. The matter has fuelled political squabble between BJD and BJP in State. The regional party alleged the project will crop up another inter-State water dispute if Odisha is kept in dark. Similarly, the BJP hoped the river linking project would benefit Odisha.
Notably, the Union government has plans of 30 river linking projects at a cost of Rs 5.60 lakh crore
