Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to constitute the tribunal to resolve the dispute.
“I strongly urge for immediate constitution of the tribunal and reference of complaint dated 19.11.2016 for adjudication,” Patnaik wrote in a letter to Modi.
“I also urge for your goodself, being head of the federal system, to intervene by instructing the upstream state of Chhattisgarh to stop the construction of barrages on Mahanadi river and to open the gates of Kalma and other barrages to maintain the free flow of water downstream which is rightful claim of my state of Odisha and its inhabitants,” he said.
However, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh did not seem to be in a mood for entertaining any claim of Odisha and threw the ball into Odisha’s court, saying, “It is not a fight between the States. The decision on how much water each State will get is decided by the CWC, not us or Odisha.
Meanwhile, Naveen maintained that despite passage of six months, no steps have been taken by the Centre allowing Chhattisgarh to go ahead with the disputed projects in the Mahanadi river basin.
Patnaik said that he wrote to his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh on June 3 for immediate opening of the gates of Kalma barrage but has not received any official response from him yet.
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