Will defend our rights on Mahanadi, vows Patnaik

Even as Opposition parties continued to blame Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for raising the Mahanadi water issue despite his government coming under fire after the Kandhamal killings and death of 19 malnourished children in Nagada village, Mr. Patnaik on Wednesday said he would leave no stone unturned to defend the river.

“I assure the people of the State that my government will take up the issue at various levels and leave no stone unturned to establish our justifiable rights over the water of Mahanadi,” Mr. Patnaik said in a statement.

Terming the statement of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on the issue “most unfortunate”, Mr. Patnaik said Mr. Singh’s statement violated “the cardinal doctrine of inter-State river water sharing between co-basin States and our federal governance”.

“What is more unfortunate is the false and misleading statement of Mr. [Sanjeev] Balyan, Minister of State for Water Resources, in the floor of Parliament yesterday [Tuesday],” he said.

Stating that he had already sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention on the issue, Mr. Patnaik urged the Chhattisgarh government to stop all constructions till the issue was resolved.

“Mahanadi is the lifeline of our State. We shall not allow Mahanadi to dry out because of the unilateral and blatant actions of Chhattisgarh,” Mr. Patnaik said.

The matter is likely to be discussed in a joint meeting between Odisha and Chhattisgarh the Union Government has planned for Friday.

Mr. Singh has said his government would go ahead with the projects around Mahanadi, claiming it has obtained clearance from the Central Water Commission.

Chhattisgarh was using only 25 per cent of the water from Mahanadi, Mr. Singh had said, adding that the issue was being unnecessarily politicised by Mr. Patnaik.

The ruling BJD organised a demonstration outside the Jharsuguda District Collector’s office on Wednesday, opposing construction of barrages over Mahanadi by the Chhattisgarh government. The party has announced to stage similar demonstrations in 15 districts by August 11.

Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly Narasingha Mishra has also announced to convene an all-party meeting in Bhubaneswar on August 3 to discuss and take appropriate steps on the Mahanadi water issue. Mr. Mishra had led a Congress delegation to survey the ongoing projects over Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh.