BJD Condemns Odisha Revenue Minister’s Statement On Mahanadi Dispute

Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday condemned the statement of Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari that previous Odisha government did not take any steps to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute.

Speaking to media persons in party office in Bhubaneswar, former minister and senior vice-president of BJD Debi Prasad Mishra said his government had taken up the dispute with Chhattisgarh over sharing of Mahanadi river water with the Central government, prime minister and Central Water Commission (CWC) several times.

Mishra said then chief minister Naveen Patnaik had also drawn the attention of the Central authorities towards illegal construction of barrages over Mahanadi by Chhattisgarh government.

“Naveen had taken up the issue in a meeting chaired by Union Water Resources Minister in 2016. He had sought the Centre’s intervention to stop Chhattisgarh government from the illegal activities as Odisha heavily depended on Mahanadi to meet its water needs. But the Central government of BJP did not take any steps as Chhattisgarh was also ruled by the same party,” said Mishra.

Unable to get justice from the Centre, the Odisha government had moved the Supreme Court. It led to formation of Mahanadi Water Tribunal. The state government had presented all its claims before the tribunal, the BJD leader said.

Stating that the BJD government had taken all possible steps to resolve the Mahanadi dispute, Mishra said the Revenue Minister’s statement was not only unfortunate but also misleading. Instead of blaming the previous government, the present BJP government should initiate steps to resolve the issue soon, he added.