Mahanadi dispute: CPI(M) to launch signature campaign for tribunal

Bhubaneswar: The CPI(M) in Odisha on Thursday said it would launch a state-wide signature campaign seeking people's support for setting up a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha and Chhattishgarh.

"We will collect signature of 30 lakh people from 30 districts of the state and send them to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A copy of the signatures will also be submitted to the state government," CPI(M) state secretary Ali Kishore Patnaik told reporters here today.

Stating that the CPI(M) was the first to raise the demand for setting up a tribunal to resolve Mahanadi dispute, Patnaik said a resolution in this regard was passed in the party's recently concluded conference held at Berhampur.

Patnaik said the central government should be put under pressure to set up the tribunal.

He also criticised the Chhattishgarh government for constructing projects on the upstream of Mahanadi.