Mahanadi River Waterkeeper organisation head Ranjan Panda on Sunday welcomed the current move by the Odisha Government to take note of various developments on the Mahanadi upstream Chhattisgarh.
“We have been warning the Government in this regard for almost a decade now and are happy to see that the Government is finally waking up to the reality,” said Panda in a statement.
“We have come across a letter written by EIC-cum-Special Secretary of the Odisha Government to the EIC Water Resources of the State Government asking for information on various developments being taken up on Mahanadi and its tributaries in Chhattisgarh. This is a good move but also shows the lack of coordination in the Water Resources Department,” said Panda, adding, “The Government kept telling to us that it has got a good coordination with Chhattisgarh with regard to the Mahanadi’s water management.”
“We kept them asking to go beyond the routine one or two-time meeting only during floods, but they never heard. Now that the drought situation has affected the basin and the real scarcity has been felt everywhere, it seems the Government is realising the need for talking to Chhattisgarh. This should not be another formality but a serious effort,” said Panda.
“We have warned the Water Resources Department time and again and have been informing about all such developments. In 2010, we informed the Government that as many as 33 planned thermal power plants in Chhattisgarh would be drawing water from the Mahanadi by building dams and barrages and drastically reduce the flow at Hirakud.”
“Then in December 2012, we organised a joint coordination meeting of people from Odisha and Chhattisgarh on management of the Mahanadi and submitted a detailed memorandum to both State Governments urging upon them to immediately establish a joint coordination mechanism through which both States can plan management of the basin water in a holistic manner taking into consideration all factors looking at the ecological carrying capacity. However, both the States have been marketting the Mahanadi as a water-surplus river to attract investments for thermal power plants and other industries, and that is the reason both the States have not shown any interest in problems faced by the river which is actually now a water-deficit one,” alleged Panda.
“Now that the Odisha Government has woken up due to our continuous advocacy, we urge upon it to immediately pursue for a joint coordination committee between the two States, do a thorough study of all developments in both the States and their impact on the river water and ecology and then establish a mechanism to protect the Mahanadi from further dying,” suggested Panda.
“At the moment, both the States are competing to treat the Mahanadi as a tradable commodity and not a river. This mindset has to change and all future developments on the river must be planned taking into consideration ecological carrying capacity of the entire basin, riparian rights of the communities and rights of other species dependent on the river,” urged Panda.