Bhubaneswar: Amid the ongoing row over sharing of Mahanadi water, the Odisha government on Monday claimed that neighbouring state Chhattisgarh is using the water exclusively for industries.
Speaking to the media here, Odisha Water Resources minister Raghunandan Das said that the Chhattisgarh government, which had not been releasing non-monsoon water of Mahanadi to Odisha despite repeated demands, has released the water for the first time this year.
“However, considering the volume of Mahanadi water released from the upper catchments to the Hirakud reservoir in June this year, it is now clear that the Chhattisgarh government is using the Mahanadi water mostly for its industrial units. It is not that the neighbouring state has released the non-monsoon water as per our demand. The fact remains that it has been forced to release the water as the industrial units are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Das pointed out.
He said that the Odisha government will bring this to the notice of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal during its next hearing, scheduled on August 8.
