Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal has strongly condemned the statement of Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari on the Mahanadi water dispute.
Addressing a press conference, senior Vice-President of BJD and former Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said that the statement of the Revenue Minister on the Mahanadi water dispute issue is misleading and unfortunate.
Mahanadi is the lifeline of the people of 16 districts of Odisha. Despite clear mention of how much water Chhattisgarh on the upstream of Hirakud Dam and Odisha on the downstream can use, Chhattisgarh has illegally monopolised its rights over the river, Mishra said.
The senior BJD leader further said that the Odisha government and Naveen Patnaik had repeatedly drawn the attention of the Central Government, Prime Minister and CWC towards Chhattisgarh’s illegal work.
Despite Naveen Patnaik clearly demanding at a meeting in Delhi chaired by the then Water Resources Minister in 2016 to stop the illegal work by Chhattisgarh, the Centre had not issued any direction. At that time the Central government had completely ignored Odisha’s interests.
After discussion in all forums against the unauthorized barrage construction in Chhattisgarh with no success, the State government approached the Supreme Court for a solution. The Centre also adopted a dilly-dallying policy in constituting a tribunal. Finally, the Mahanadi Tribunal was constituted. Odisha after submitting all documents has presented its side in the tribunal. The tenure of the tribunal has now been extended till April 2026.
For Mahanadi, Odisha has fought legal battles, taken to the streets and has also sought a solution through negotiations. However, the Centre had acted as a mute spectator and had acted in favour of the then BJP government in Chhattisgarh. Therefore instead of presenting misleading information about the Odisha government doing nothing about Mahanadi, the BJP government should try to solve the problem. BJD is vigilant on the Mahanadi issue, said Mishra.
The BJD is fully alert to achieving the interests of the people inhabiting the Mahanadi River basin, he added.
Aul MLA and former minister Pratap Keshari Deb has also termed Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari’s statement on Mahandi as unfortunate.
During the elections, the BJP leaders said that the progress will be doubled in a double engine government. Now there is a triple engine government on the Mahanadi river issue. At the Centre, in Chhattisgarh, in Odisha, there is a BJP government everywhere. Now instead of making excuses, they should solve the problem, he said.