BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra on Saturday criticised the Central Water Commission (CWC) for not trying to settle the Mahanadi water dispute between Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Mahanadi is an inter-State river and Odisha has equal right over it, he told reporters here following the statement of Chhattisgarh Industries Minister Amar Agrawal that as the Mahanadi is flowing into Odisha through Chhattisgarh, his State has the first right on its water.
Mohapatra said, “The Mahanadi has dried up in Odisha, and the construction of the Kalma barrage in Chhattisgarh has further worsened the situation. If we don’t do anything in this regard now then our future generations will suffer.” He opined that the CWC should immediately intervene in the issue and sort it out legally.
“The CWC should call engineers and officials of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and chalk out a ‘water-sharing agreement’ between them,” he said.
“The CWC should also direct the Chhattisgarh Government on the amount of water it should release during monsoons. During the non-monsoon months, the amount of water released is very less, but during monsoons Chhattisgarh releases large volume of water for which several parts in Odisha get inundated. The CWC should direct the Chhattisgarh Government for releasing water during both monsoon and non-monsoon months,” Mohapatra emphasised.
“The capacity of Chhattisgarh’s Ravishankar Sagar Dam is 348.700 metre, and currently it has 341-metre water. However, currently the water level in the Hirakud Dam (630 ft) is comparatively very low,” he said.
Mohapatra alleged that the Odisha Government has not done much in this regard for which most of the Mahanadi water drains into the sea. “The Odisha Government had started a Mahanadi Birupa project around three years back, but not a single canal in the region is getting water,” he claimed.
Mohapatra demand that the Odisha Government immediately construct submersible barrages on six rivers, Mahanadi, Karandia, Birupa, Paika, Chitrotpala and luna.