River Mahanadi is like a mother; and people of Odisha would go to any extent to save and protect her.
The manner in which the Chhattisgarh Government has stopped its water from flowing to Odisha by constructing dams and barrages upstream of the river, is illegal and arbitrary, said Jharsuguda MlA Naba Kishore Das at a conference of the Mahanadi Suraksha Committee (MSC) here on Tuesday.
Das said the Mahanadi is the lifeline of Odisha and by stopping the flow of its waters, the Chhattisgarh Government has brought for misery for residents of the State. At the same time, it will have direct impact on the Hirakud Dam, fishermen and the farmers of Odisha.
“In order to save the Mahanadi and force the Chhattisgarh Government to release water, we all would have to agitate and get organised. There would be no politics in this, he said.”
He further said that the Odisha Government has opposed Chhattisgarh’s construction of dam and barrages but no action has been taken. This shows the Central Government's bias towards Odisha. MSC chairman Bhagwat Prasad Nanda, district convenor Jagannath Jena and organisation leaders Badal Das, Ashok Bishi, Bhakta Nand, Amjad Badshah, Bhupal Behera, Pratap Behera, Girish Ranjan Panda, Vijay Kishore Sahani, Gautam Pradhan, members of five blocks, sarpanch committee members and representatives of various political parties, were among others present.