Rashmi Ranjan

Bhubaneswar: Launching a scathing attack on the Odisha government over the 'inordinate delay' in resolving the long-standing Mahanadi water sharing dispute with the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday alleged that the issue is being used for political gains.

BJP MLA Jayanarayan Mishra said, "Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has never uttered a word on Mahanadi water dispute. He is using the issue to gather votes."

Even after 19 hearings, the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal has failed to finalise the common information format. Odisha has failed to get any significant benefits from the panel, he said.

State Congress leaders also stated that even though the tribunal is going to complete three years of its constitution tomorrow (March 12), it is yet to make any remarkable progress in resolving the dispute.

"The tribunal will turn three tomorrow, but Odisha has not yet got any significant benefit from it. This is a complete failure of the State government," alleged Santosh Singh Saluja, Congress MLA.

Meanwhile, BJD MLA Debi Prasad Mishra refuted the allegations and said that the matter should not be politicised to settle political scores.

"The tribunal is acting according to the process. We are yet to get the interim stay order which we had demanded earlier. Rather than politicising the matter, the opposition should tell us where we lapsed in resolving the issue," he said.

Odisha and Chhattisgarh are on loggerheads over the release of Mahanadi river water to the Hirakud dam and a series of meetings between the two States over the long-standing dispute are yet to yield any result.

Odisha government had earlier requested the Central government to form a Tribunal under Sec 4(1) of the ISRWD Act, 1956 to resolve the dispute with the neighbouring Chhattisgarh.

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