Centre assures Orissa over dams

Following the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) claim that the Chhatisgarh government is illegally building dams on the Mahanadi River the Centre has assured that it will find an amicable solution to the dispute between the two states.

The Centre also hinted that it is open to reviewing the Inter-State Water Disputes Act. The issue was discussed in both houses of Parliament.

The leader of BJD in the Lok Sabha, Bhartruhari Mahatab, while initiating a discussion on the Calling Attention Motion, gave details of the projects being undertaken by the Chhatisgarh government without consulting Odisha.

“The Chhatisgarh government has taken up at least seven dam projects designed in a way that they are not major irrigation projects to avoid the scrutiny of the Central Water Commission (CWC), but they together could make the Hirakud irrigation project redundant. The moot question is why the Central Water Commission is flouting the norms. The government should rise to the occasion and do justice to Odisha,” Mr Mahatab said.

Union minister of state for Water Resources, Sanjeev Balyan noted that one of the projects being undertaken by the Chhatisgarh government has been without the necessary approval.

He said that the Centre has called a meeting of the two states on July 29 to discuss the complaints of the Odisha government.

The Centre urged the two states to set up a long-pending Joint Control Board to address water disputes in future. It also added that the Centre is open to review the Inter-State Water Disputes Act if states make any suggestions. “We will find a way out and solve the matter,” Ms Uma Bharti, Union Minister for Water Resources, said in her intervention in the Lok Sabha. She also informed the Upper House that the proposed meeting of the two states had been originally convened for June 27 and postposed at Odisha’s request. The scheduling of this meeting preceded the notice for the Calling Attention Motion. She said that the concerns of the two states will be first discussed at the chief secretary-level and later if there is any need, the Centre will call a separate meeting of state water resources ministers. Dissatisfied with the government’s response, BJD members staged a walk out in the Rajya Sabha.