Prime Minister Narendra Modi
today hit out at the ruling BJD government in Odisha, accusing it of misleading people by sparking a row over the Mahanadi river water.
"Odisha government is misleading people... a glaring example is Mahanadi river water row raked up by it," Modi said at a public meeting at the Bali Jatra ground on the banks of the river here.
The state government, which has "failed" to discharge its responsibilities, had itself admitted on the floor of the state Assembly that more than half of the Mahanadi river water was flowing into the Bay of Bengal and going waste, he said.
When the Centre tried to resolve the issue through discussion, the Odisha government did not cooperate and went on the back foot, the prime minister alleged.
He accused the state government of having "miserably failed" in implementing various irrigation projects.
Apart from Mahanadi, the BJD government has also failed to properly utilise the water resources of around five other major rivers, Modi said.
He said the people of the state want to know as to why the Lower Indravati irrigation project, which was started 20 years ago, was kept hanging for so long, causing cost escalation.
Farmers in Odisha are hit hard in the absence of proper irrigaton projects, he added.
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