Even as people of Odisha were eagerly waiting to know the State Government’s decisions vis-à-vis the Mahanadi water sharing dispute with Chhattisgarh, an emergency State Cabinet meeting here under chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik hereon Sunday failed to take any decision as to how to move ahead on the issue.
“The Cabinet needs one-to-two weeks to take the next course of action,” Chief Secretary AP Padhi told reporters after the meeting. He, however, reiterated the Chief Minister’s version that the State Government will use all possible options to resolve the Mahanadi imbroglio.
Padhi informed that a fact-finding team would be constituted involving expert water resources engineers, judges, environmentalists, and agriculture experts to collect every bit of data regarding the construction of barrages in Chhattisgarh upstream the Mahanadi in three months’ time.
Meanwhile, opposition parties Congress and BJP severely criticised the BJD Government as “inefficient”.
“The Congress is disappointed at the failure of the tripartite meeting held in New Delhi yesterday. Both the BJD and the BJP are trying to hoodwink people. The State Government must tell people what next course of action it would take to secure Mahanadi water for Odisha,” demanded PCC president Prasad Harichandan at a Press meet held a few minutes after the Cabinet meeting.
He too slammed the Chief Minister for not seeking intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the issue. “When it is an inter-State issue, the Chief Minister could have sought the Prime Minister’s intervention,” he said.
He added that the Congress would not sit silent. It would gather public support to protect Mahanadi water in the interest of the State.
Similarly, the BJP said the State Government is only playing politics over the Mahanadi issue while the Centre is committed not to lessen water flow in the Mahanadi even by a drop of water.
“The State Government had assured the people that it would take a decision at today’s Cabinet meeting. But it didn’t take any decision. The BJD must not adopt this dillydallying attitude and should tell people about the steps it would take in the Mahanadi issue,” said BJP State vice-president Sameer Mohanty.