A joint control board may be constituted to discuss various issues relating to water distribution from Mahanadi river and its tributaries between Chhattisgarh and Odisha States, officials said.
The issue was discussed during a meeting of Central Water Commission (CWC) held in New Delhi on Friday which was attended by senior officials of both the State Governments and the Central Government.
During the meeting, Chief Secretary of Odisha AP Padhi said he will first confirm on setting up of the joint control board only after discussing the matter with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
In the meeting, the two States have although agreed to share information regarding projects set up on Mahanadi river in their respective jurisdictions, officials said.
Notably, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had earlier sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in resolving the issue on sharing of the Mahanadi river waters.
“Chhattisgarh has agreed on setting up of a joint control board to discuss issues related to Mahanadi and its tributaries between Odisha and Chhattisgarh,” an official Press release issued in Raipur said.
As per the directions of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and State Water Resources Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand gave the State's approval on constituting a joint control board, it said.
Union Water Resources Ministry's Additional Secretary Amarjeet Singh presided over the meeting.
Chhattisgarh Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand said the State has always abided by the inter-State river water sharing norms and has used limited Mahanadi water without hurting Odisha's interest.
He said Chhattisgarh will provide maximum information today (Friday) itself and the rest will be provided to the Ministry within 15 days.
Dhand urged the officials of Odisha to provide information regarding use of Mahanadi water and projects operational on the river there.
He said Odisha and Chhattisgarh are neighbouring States with common interest and detailed information by both the States regarding the Mahanadi issue will definitely help in solving the matter, the release said.
The Chief Secretary also drew the meeting's attention towards the agreement made between the then Chief Minister of the erstwhile undivided State of Madhya Pradesh Arjun Singh and the then Chief Minister of Odisha JB Patnaik in April, 1983 to constitute a joint control board to resolve the issues between the two States relating to survey, investigation, execution or any other issues.
But this board has not been constituted so far. He said Chhattisgarh will always support constituting such a joint board.