Mahanadi Row: All-Party Meet Passes Four Resolutions

Bhubaneswar: Leaders and representatives of all political parties passed four resolutions at a meeting convened by Mahanadi Banchao Andolan, here on Sunday.

Expressing grave concern over blocking of Mahanadi water by shutting down all gates of the Kalama barrage on the upstream, the leaders decided to take up the matter with the President, Prime Minister and the chief minister of Chhattisgarh.

As the Centre has formed the Mahanadi Tribunal following the directive of the Supreme Court, it was unanimously decided that till the Tribunal gave its final verdict on the matter, the Chhattisgarh government has to stop construction work of all the projects on Mahanadi.

The meeting also decided to urge the Odisha government to present all its arguments with relevant documents before the Tribunal to justify its legitimate claim.

Besides, it also decided to ask the state government to take seven major steps for protection of Mahanadi river bed and its diversity. These are conservation of river water, making the water pollution-free, creation of forest on both sides of the river, creation of watershed projects for soil conservation and free the river bed area of encroachments.

The meeting presided over by the convener of Mahanadi Banchao Andolan Sudarshan Das, was attended by BJD vice president Debi Prasad Mishra, PCC president Niranjan Patnaik, BJP leader Biswabhusan Harichandan, CPI state leader Sura Jena, state secretary of CPM Odisha Mandal Sisir Hui, Samajwadi State president Rabi Behera, Samata Kranti leader Braja Kishore Tripathy, Utkal Bharat leader Sheikh Hasiruddin, RJD state leader Hemant Kumar, CPI-ML state leader Judhistir Mohapatra, Alok Pradhan and Kalinga Sena president Hemant Rath.