The Odisha Government has asked the Government of Chhattisgarh to immediately stop construction and operation of ongoing barrages, so also future projects planned on the Mahanadi river.
Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Friday dashed a letter to the Chief Secretary of Chhattisgarh Vivek Dhand after the Government of Odisha filed a complaint with the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) in this regard. The Government of Odisha in the Department of Water Resources (DoWR) on November 19 has filed a complaint under Section 3 of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, seeking constitution of a tribunal for adjudication of the water disputes emerging due to unilateral action taken by the Chhattisgarh Government.
Padhi in his letter has pointed out that the Government of Chhattisgarh has planned for utilization of 27.48 Million Acre Feet (MAF) water from the Mahanadi.
This is far in excess from the equitable share of Chhattisgarh in the waters of Mahanadi, which is only 8.3 MAF, said Padhi.
The Chief Secretary reminded his counterpart in Chhattisgarh that its share in the waters of Mahanadi is not more than 8.3 MAF in the minimum flow of 20.61 MAF as assessed way back in 1945 and 2.5 MAF in the surplus flow as total surplus flow annually is 6.17 MAF.
So the excess utilization of 16.65 MAF of water under existing, ongoing and future expansion of the projects has affected Odisha. And in future, it is likely to affect the equitable share of Odisha, pointed out Padhi.
Equitable share of Odisha is 15.95 MAF and break up is 12.28 MAF in minimum flow and 3.67 MAF in the surplus flow.
As the Government of Chhattisgarh planned six barrages unilaterally for utilization of 0.84 MAF of water and which are under construction cannot be sustained in law or in equity, said Padhi.
So the State Government has asked the Government of Chhattisgarh to stop construction and operation of the six barrages.
Padhi has also asked Dhand to immediately stop construction and operation of seven ongoing projects like Kalo, Arpa, Sondhar, Sukhanalla, Ghumariya, Mongra II, and Samodanisda II. Chief Secretary Padhi asked Dhand to restrain from taking forward the construction of any of the projects mentioned by the Government of Odisha.
Notably, Government of Odisha has tried to settle the matter through negotiations but as the Chhattisgarh Government was adamant and not cooperating with the riparian State in a bonafide manner; so it approached the MoWR to constitute a Water Dispute Tribunal and refer the matter to the tribunal under Section 5 (1) of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.
The complaint was filed on November 19 by Principal Secretary Water Resources Pradeep Jena with Union Secretary MoWR Sashi Sekhar, said sources.