Bhubaneswar: Odisha Water resources secretary Pradeep Jena today said that the State government is hopeful of getting favourable ruling after it filed a petition with the Union Water Resources ministry for formation of a tribunal to resolve the ongoing Mahanadi row.
“Odisha government has filed a complaint petition under Section 3 of the Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 in which we have urged the Centre to form a dispute tribunal. Section 3 of the Act is important because it has a provision wherein one affected party or both can request the Government of India to set up a tribunal to settle the rights of the individual states. We have followed the due process and submitted the petition. We have also requested the Union government to direct the Chhattisgarh government to stop work on the ongoing projects during the pendency of the petition. Along with our petition we have provided detailed information in a 700-page document which contains all historical facts and data over the past 30-40 years. The document also highlights how the projects undertaken by Chhattisgarh will affect Odisha and why the state is harbouring apprehensions. Filing of the petition is a legal step and we are hopeful that the Centre will act expeditiously on the same. We have full faith that our case of Mahanadi is quite strong and we will get relief,” said Jena.
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On the other hand, Odisha BJP criticized the State government for its double standards on the issue and accused it of lacking intent to resolve the issue quickly.
“We had earlier advised the State government to hold discussions under the mediation of the Central government which will result in swift resolution of the matter. BJD had arranged a bilateral meeting with the Chhattisgarh government but, the CM came out of the meeting and said that he is not satisfied and will take legal steps. Today I want to ask if the CM had earlier said that it does not have faith on the Central government, then why once again the State government has approached the central government for a tribunal. Today we want to reiterate that the State government should either approach the Supreme Court and get a stay on the projects or pursue dialogue with Chhattisgarh to resolve the issue,” said BJD leader Prithviraj Harichandan.