Mahanadi water dispute will be resolved soon: Odisha CM

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday expressed confidence that the Mahanadi river water sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh will be resolved soon.

“The Centre was forced to form a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi river water sharing following Supreme Court order. I hope that the dispute will be resolved soon,” said Patnaik.

He was addressing a public meeting at Bijepur as part of the election campaign for the by-poll for the Bijepur assembly constituency.

The Chief Minister further said that his fight for Mahanadi will continue till Odisha gets its due justice.

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved the proposal for constitution of a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute.

Odisha government had moved the Supreme Court seeking a tribunal to resolve the dispute after the BJP-ruled Centre allegedly did not take any concrete measures in this regard.

Acting on a petition of the Odisha Government, the Supreme Court on January 23 directed the Centre to form a tribunal within one month to resolve the Mahanadi water sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

The tribunal will determine water sharing among basin states on the basis of the overall availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin, the contribution of each state, the present utilisation of water resources in each state and the potential for future development.