Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Monday lashed out at the Central Government for the delay in formation of a tribunal for solving the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh on the Mahanadi water sharing issue.
BJD vice-president and Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya said Union Water Resource Minister Uma Bharti had given assurances in the Parliament for resolving the issue. But though one year has passed meanwhile, the Centre has not formed the proposed tribunal.
The Centre is disobeying the Parliament and the Supreme Court. The Centre is taking sides with the Chhattisgarh Government. This is violation of the country’s Federal structure norms, Acharya said.
He also alleged that Union Government is deliberately delaying formation of a tribunal to facilitate the Chhattisgarh Government to compete its ongoing projects, to which Odisha has been repeatedly objecting.
Water Resources Department Secretary Pradeep Jena said that the Central Government did not keep its commitment on formation of a tribunal. The State Government would apprise about the matter to the Supreme Court in the next hearing of the Mahanadi water dispute case, he added.
However, BJP State chief spokesperson Sajjan Sharma in his reaction said the BJD is not at all serious about the Mahanadi issue. It is only shedding crocodile tears over the matter, he added.
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