Bhubaneswar: Amid reports that the Mahanadi River Water Disputes Tribunal will undertake a 10-visit to Chhattisgarh in two phases next month, BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra on Saturday said that Hirakud Dam may reach the dead storage level by June this year with current inflow of only 485 cusec water and higher degree of evaporation loss.
“The water level of Hirakud dam today stands at 616.69ft against 621.51ft in the same period last year. It shows that there is a drop of 5ft in the water level in Hirakud and one can easily imagine the situation during peak summer months. The water level of Hirakud dam dropped by 1ft in four days for the first time in history,” Mohapatra said.
The senior BJP leader further said that the water level in Hirakud will come down to 600ft if this trends continues and it will affect power generation and irrigation. “It is unfortunate that when crores of rupees are being spent on other works, the Odisha government has adopted a lackadaisical attitude despite being well aware of the problem. The save the situation, it could have constructed multiple barrages downstream of Mahanadi,” he added.
Mohapatra said that tube-wells will soon start drying up in villages and therefore, the government should start working on a war-footing to resolve the water crisis staring the state on its face. “It takes about three years to complete a barrage, the government instead to work towards completing these in one and a half years. Any further delay can spell doom for the state,” he said.
The BJP leader said it is futile to expect any relief from the tribunal. “The tribunal should be boycotted. They will only demarcate the boundaries. We have to find out ways to salvage the situation,” he added.
Things may improve if the tribunal asks Chhattisgarh to release 40000-50000 cusec water, he said, adding “Odisha is now in a tunnel of crisis”.
Mohapatra also hoped that the Assembly will take up the issue for discussion.
Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said that Mahanadi remains a sensitive issue. “I had given a motion for discussion on the Mahanadi issue and Speaker had assured to take it up after the passage of the appropriation bill. I urge Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to travel outside Odisha only after April 6 and participate in the discussion in the House,” he said.
He said that the government is indulging in propaganda with no real development at the ground level.
Mishra further said the Mahanadi issue is being discussed since the year 2000. “The state government in 2010 claimed that Hirakud is receiving excess water during the non-monsoon periods. The government then said that the water inflow has decreased and again after barrages were constructed, it claimed that water inflow has increased. The government now finds itself in an awkward situation since Mahanadi is drying up,” he said.
He said two Committees were set up with CM and Speaker as their heads. “No meeting was ever convened. The state government is not taking the Opposition into confidence for which it is failing,” Mishra alleged.
Notably, the tribunal team will be visiting Chhattisgarh from April 17 to 21 in the first phase and again from April 29 to May 3. This decision was taken during a hearing on the Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh in New Delhi on Saturday.
Acting on the request of the Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments, the Centre had recently extended the tenure of the tribunal for another 21 months till December 24, 2024. This was the second extension given to the tribunal which was constituted on March 12, 2018, with a three-year tenure and a mandate to resolve the river water sharing dispute between the two states.
Earlier this. month, the BJD raised the issue in the Assembly and accused Chhattisgarh of arbitrarily stopping water flow in Mahanadi river during lean period. BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra told the media that pressure should be put on Chhattisgarh to release water to ensure that Odisha gets its proper share of Mahanadi water.
