Members of the Mahanadi River Waterkeeper, Odisha and the Nadi Ghati Morcha, Raipur initiated a citizen driven initiative to build peace between Odisha and Chhattisgarh to conserve the river Mahanadi by avoiding unnecessary disputes between the two States.
For almost a decade now, Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO), a leading water advocacy network of the State, has been warning of a conflict between Odisha and Chhattisgarh owing to the neglect of the river basin by the two States. It kept writing to both the States to treat the Mahanadi as an ecological entity and plan all developments in a coordinated and integrated approach so that the mother river of both the States does not suffer. However, the States ignored the warnings and marketed the river as a water surplus one to invite investments for water guzzling industries, especially coal fired power plants, said WIO convenor Ranjan Panda. “This June, when water scarcity got worse and Odisha realised that the upstream development projects are actually affecting water flow in the river negatively, the State has upped its ante against Chhattisgarh. There is a statement or action from both the Governments each day and a conflict is brewing up. We need to have a citizen’s drive to understand this conflict and work towards resolving it,” said Panda further.
No inter-State water dispute in the country has been solved even for decades of bitter political and legal fights. It is, therefore, important to understand the fact that we cannot solve it by fuelling a conflict. The need of the hour is coordinated strategy between the two States and we will work towards building that up, Panda said.
In December 2012, the WIO and the Nadi Ghati Morcha had already laid the foundation of such a peace initiative by inviting civil society groups, farmers, academia and other experts from both the States to Sambalpur in Odisha for a joint discussion on the emerging conflicts, informed Nadi Ghati Morcha, Raipur convenor Gautam Bandopadhyaya.
In both the States, we will engage with the Governments, have citizens’ consultations and many more initiatives to build a process of peace and step up our pressure so that both the States initiate a consent-based joint coordination mechanism where the Government along with citizens work towards solving conflicts amicably keeping in view the ecological carrying capacity of the river,” said Panda.