Prasanna Acharya to chair meet on Mahanadi today

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the 12-member BJD team’s visit to Chhattisgarh on August 7 & 8 to hold discussions with concerned officials of the neighbouring State on the Mahanadi water dispute, Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya will chair a meeting with the team members today.

Official sources said the meeting will deliberate on the points to be raised during the discussion with the Chhattisgarh officials to solve the issue. The team will consult with a technical advisory panel with former engineers of Water Resources department Sarat Mohanty, Sridhar Behera and Ramesh Rath members during the meeting.

The team will prepare a detailed report on the water projects already taken up by the Raman Singh-led Chhattisgarh government on Mahanadi, the sources added.

On Friday, the ruling party had constituted the team in which Finance minister Pradip Amat, Industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra, Food Supplies minister Sanjay Dasburma and party leaders like Rohit Pujari, Kishore Mohanty, Sushant Singh, Padmanabh Behera, Pratap Keshari Deb, Pramila Mallik and Raseswari Panigrahi are the other members.

After the visit, the BJD team will hold discussions with other parties, experts and members of civil society before preparing a complete report and submitting it to the chief minister.