The recent floods in the Mahanadi have brought misery for lakhs of people. Efficient management of the Mahanadi waters and the floods would have saved people from this situation, said the Mahanadi Banchao Andolan on Saturday.
Due to lack of measures for flood prevention in downstream, negligence in maintenance of river embankments and absence of advance preparedness led to the people facing a plethora of problems. In August, due to release of excess waters there were severe floods. But in April, not a drop of water had been released from the Kalma barrage in Chhattisgarh, said Andolan convenor Sudarsan Das in a Press meet here.
After a few days, the Mahanadi Tribunal would complete four years of its formation. But at the pace the tribunal is functioning, there are no signs of the flood and drought problems being solved in the near future, he said.
Mahanadi Banchao Andolan’s advisor Lalit Patnaik, coordinator Bijay Pradhan, spokesperson Prasanna Bisoi, Nirad Khuntia and Prakash Rath were present.