New Delhi, July 30: In the meeting chaired by the Union Water Resources Secretary Sashi Sekhar, conducted over the Mahanadi Water Issue between Odisha-Chhattisgarh they both came to a conclusion to come up with a Joint Control Board (JCB) to settle the dispute. The meeting was attended by chief secretaries and concerned officials of the two States. The deal of setting up the JCB was announced by the Chhattisgarh chief Secretary, Vivek Dhand. The official authorities paid emphasis only on the information sharing system by the States in order to minimize further tensions on related to the pertaining topic.
Sources revealed that the catchment area of Mahanadi up to Hirakud dam in Odisha is 82,432 sq.kms, out of which 71,424 sq km lies in Chhattisgarh which equals to 86 % of the total catchment area. The average inflow of Mahanadi at Hirakud dam is 40,773 million cubic metres (MCM), out of which 35,308 MCM is the share of Chhattisgarh. Vivek Dhand added in the meeting that Chhattisgarh uses water which is only up to 9,000 MCM equaling to only 25 per cent of the available water in the river. Dhand stated that Chhattisgarh will co-operate with Odisha to ensure free flow of Mahanadi water throughout the year.
