Mahanadi Row: Congress demands interim order by Tribunal, release of water in canals in 7 days

Ahead of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal’s field visit in Odisha, the state unit of the Congress party on Friday raised several issues, thereby warming up the politics.

Bijay Patnaik, chairman of the campaign committee of PCC, today said that the Tribunal was formed in 2018 and not a single verdict has come up in the past five years. According to Patnaik, the common information format that is used to collect information about rivers and their tributaries has not been finalised by the Odisha government officials yet.

“There has been a drop of 77.7 per cent water inflow in Hirakud in May following the construction of barrages by Chhattisgarh. We want to question the Tribunal members to give a specific deadline when the verdict will come,” said Patnaik.

he senior Congress leader further said that keeping in view the acute water crisis during the non-monsoon period in Mahanadi, the Tribunal should have passed an interim order.

The Congress party also issued a deadline to the Odisha government to release water in canals in the next seven days.

“We want to ask the Odisha government why water is not being released through canals for irrigation and other purposes. The state government is accountable to the people and it is only making an excuse in the name of the Tribunal,” said Patnaik adding that no step has been taken for preserving the water by constructing barrages by the state government.

The BJD, on the other hand, said that Chhattisgarh government built barrages by claiming that only check dams will be constructed. The state government is taking all possible measures to protect the interest of Odisha and save Mahanadi.

Meanwhile, the BJP leaders could not be contacted over the matter.