Bolangir: The dispute over Mahanadi water sharing between Chhattisgarh and Odisha has seriously hit the implementation of four ongoing projects in the state, a report said.
The Mahanadi water dispute has backfired on the state as Central Water Commission returned the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) of four projects, including the Lower Suktel Irrigation Project, the report said.
The four projects being implemented in the Mahanadi river basin are Tel Multi-purpose Project, Lower Suktel Irrigation Project, Khadang Barrage Project and Telijor Irrigation Project.
The CWC has returned the DPR of Tel MPR, the second DPR of Lower Suktel and the feasibility of Khadang barrage project and Telijor irrigation project.
The matter came to light following a reply to an application filed by rights activist Hemant Kumar Panda under Right to Information Act (RTI).
This has been informed by the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation department in a response to the RTI query; Panda said while addressing a press meet here, Monday.
According to Panda, the Centre formed the Mahanadi Water Tribunal following a demand of the state and on the order of the apex court. On the basis of the tribunal’s award, the CWC directed the state to file the revised outlay of the four projects, October 3, 2019.
Since then, 16 months have passed but the state government has remained silent on the issue.
Even as the CWC has returned the DPR of four projects, the political leaders and government officials are not speaking the truth but creating confusion by making unnecessary presentations on Lower Suktel Project and Mahanadi, Panda alleged.
He even questioned the visit of a high-level committee comprising state Chief Secretary, WODC chairman and 5T Secretary to Lower Suktel project site a few days back, saying that people were not properly informed and many things have been concealed from them.
Reports said that, the state government termed the construction of a barrage by the Chhattisgarh government in the upstream of Hirakud illegal and raised objections to it. The Chief Ministers of the two states had a meeting to resolve the issue, September 17, 2016.
In the meeting, the then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh argued in the presence of his Odisha counterpart that the barrage constructions in his state started 10 years back.
As a result, the barrage works were not stopped but it had a reverse effect in the case of Odisha. The work on the Lower Suktel project which started 20 years back has been stopped.
He said, after the CWC denied carrying out the valuation of the under-construction projects, it is unfortunate that the state government has remained silent on the issue.
PNN