Odisha urges PM to stop construction over Mahanadi river by Chhattisgarh

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Chhattisgarh government to stop construction over Mahanadi river.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Patnaik also requested to constitute a tribunal as per the direction of Supreme Court to resolve Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh.

“I would be grateful if you could kindly instruct the Union Ministry of Water Resources to issue necessary administrative directions under Article 256 of the Constitution to the State of Chhattisgarh to stop the construction works on the ongoing projects, particularly the ongoing six barrages across the river Mahanadi,” said the Chief Minister.

He said if the construction of these ongoing works is not stopped immediately, Odisha would be forced to meet a situation of fait accompli frustrating the adjudication under the provisions of the Act of 1956 enacted by the Parliament pursuant to Article 262(1) of the Constitution of India.

The Supreme Court on January 23 passed an order directing the Central government to constitute a tribunal within a period of one month for adjudicating the inter-state water disputes between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.