The Odisha Government, not overly enthusiastic about it, has told the Centre that there is need for more study on the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) proposal for interlinking of the Godavari and Mahanadi rivers.

The State Government has told a high-level delegation of the Union Water Resources Ministry that it would take a final decision on the move after a thorough review of the proposal.

The delegation, led by Additional Secretary in the Union Water Resources Ministry Amarjit Singh, CWC Chairman AV Pandya and Director General of National Water Development Agency Masud Hussain had a meeting in this regard with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Friday.

Senior officials of the State Government argued at the meeting that there has been more pressure on the Mahanadi due to mushrooming of industrial units near the river. Besides, the river water has been underutilised as most parts of the riverside areas are yet to be irrigated.

Considering the above, a detailed study would reveal whether the interlinking of the Mahanadi would be beneficial to the State, they said.

As per the blueprint on interlinking of rivers prepared by the CWC, the water of the Ganga would be linked with the Subarnarekha, Brahmani, Baitarani and Mahanadi from where the water of these rivers would be linked to the Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri through the Rushikulya river.

A dam would be built at Manibhadra in Nayagarh district which would take the Mahanadi water to the Rushikukya, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri through a 827-km canal that would pass through Odisha’s Nayagarh, Khordha, Ganjam and Gajapati districts and Srikakulam and Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts in Andhra Pradesh.

The CWC Chairman told reporters that the team would have another round of meeting with the State Government.