Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today once again urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask the Union Ministry of Water Resources to instruct neighbouring Chhattishgarh to stop construction work of projects on the upstream of river Mahanadi immediately.
The chief minister also urged the prime minister to implement the order of the Supreme Court by constituting a tribunal immediately.
"... pending the constitution and functioning of the tribunal, I would be grateful, if you could kindly instruct the Water Resources ministry to issue necessary administrative direction ... to Chhattishgarh to stop the construction work of the ongoing projects, particularly the ongoing six barrages across river Mahanadi," Patnaik wrote to the prime minister.
If the construction of these ongoing work is not stopped immediately, Patnaik said: "then my government would be forced to meet a situation of fait accompli frustrating the adjudication under the provision of the Act of 1956 enacted by the Parliament pursuant to Article 262 (1) of the Constitution of India."
Patnaik, who has also written similar letters to the Prime Minister on November 7, 2017, November 17, 2017 and December 12, 2017, said a tribunal should be formed by issuing necessary notification under section 4(1) of the Inter-State River Dispute Act, 1956.
Patnaik said the Supreme Court has passed an order on January 23, 2018 directing the Central Government to constitute the Tribunal within a period of one month under section 4(1) of the Act of 1956 for adjudicating the inter-state dispute (emerging from the complaint dated 19.11.2016 filed by Odisha government).
Patnaik said the Apex Court judgement, as a first step, has brought the sense of relief to the people of Odisha by way of protecting the age old rights and interests in the waters of Mahanadi.
"I would like to emphasise that 60 per cent of the population of Odisha depends on Mahanadi waters for meeting the needs of irrigation and drinking water. The ecology and environment dependent on Mahanadi is far too important to be ignored," Patnaik mentioned in the letter.
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