Annoyed over Chhattisgarh's "high handed act" of stopping water of Mahanadi river to Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's to constitute the tribunal to resolve the dispute.
"I strongly urge for immediate constitution of the tribunal and reference of complaint dated 19.11.2016 for adjudication," Patnaik wrote in a letter to Modi.
"I also urge for your goodself, being head of the federal system, to intervene by instructing the upstream state of Chhattisgarh to stop the construction of barrages on Mahanadi river and to open the gates of Kalma and other barrages to maintain the free flow of water downstream which is rightful claim of my state of Odisha and its inhabitants," he said.
This Patnaik's second letter to the prime minister in a week relating to the Mahanadi dispute between Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
"May I again bring to your kind attention the Mahanadi water dispute forced by high handed acts of the upper riparian state of Chhattisgarh against my downstream state of Odisha and its inhabitants, for whom, the water of Mahanadi river is a life line since the dawn of the human history," the letter said.
Stating that he has already informed about the upstream state of Chhattisgarh "unilaterally" constructing six barrages across the Mahanadi river including Kalma barrage, the chief minister said these barrages are a subject matter of the complaint preferred by the state government on November 19, 2016 to the Central government seeking constitution of an inter-state tribunal under the provision of the Inter State River Water Dispute Act of 1956.
However, Patnaik maintained that despite passage of six months, no steps have been taken by the Centre allowing Chhattisgarh to go ahead with the disputed projects in the Mahanadi river basin.
"My government has also approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court and on the last occasion, while adjourning the matter to July 25th, 2017, has requested the additional solicitor general representing the Central government to take instruction on the formation of a tribunal as demanded," he said.
The Odisha government's water resources department has recently witnessed an alarming situation due to dwindling flows into the Hirakud reservoir, Patnaik wrote in the letter.
He added that after an inquiry it was found that Chhattisgarh has gone ahead and erected the gates of Kalma barrage and then closed the same which blocked the free flow of water to downstream causing huge unrest due to scarcity of drinking water in summer months.
Patnaik said that he wrote to his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh on June 3 for immediate opening of the gates of Kalma barrage but has not received any official response from him yet.
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