Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Srikant Jena on Thursdaystrongly denied the claims of the BJP and the BJD that the erstwhile UPA Government had given approvals for construction of barrages upstream Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh against interest of Odisha.
“The permissions had been given by the Narendra Modi Government on May 22, 2014. And the barrages are being constructed in Chhattisgarh only to supply water to six big companies, which would generate 8,720 MW of power together,” Jena said, and alleged that the two parties are blaming the UPA Government only to cover up their anti-Odisha acts.
He further alleged that the barrages are being constructed with the funds provided by the six companies. Jena also slammed the State Government for delaying taking steps to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute. “When all data are available in the internet, it is not understood why the State Government has said to conduct an impact study after availing data on barrages from Chhattisgarh,” wanted to know Jena.