Bhubaneswar, Oct. 4: Governor M.C. Bhandare is learnt to have urged the Orissa government to appoint a person of national repute to examine whether the recent floods in the Mahanadi system were the result of mismanagement of the Hirakud reservoir.

The Opposition has been alleging mismanagement of the reservoir since the floods hit the coastal plains. However, the government has so far maintained a stoic silence on the issue.

In its September 16 edition, The Telegraph had carried a detailed report on Hirakud’s management stimulating a debate on whether the current flood could be attributed to human error. Later, on September 17, it carried another report on the Opposition’s demand for a techno-judicial inquiry into the “manmade” disaster. Two central ministers — chemicals and fertilisers minister Srikant Jena and minister of state for agriculture Harish Rawat — too had demanded a probe into the disaster.

Senior Congress leader and former minister Narasingh Mishra, who was a part of the party delegation which submitted a memorandum to the governor yesterday seeking his intervention to prevent politicisation of relief distribution, said: “The governor read the letter which was written to the state government by him. The letter raised the issue of manmade disaster.”

Mishra, who is from western Orissa where the Hirakud reservoir is located, alleged: “As the government did not observe the curve rule and continued to retain a lot of water on a particular day above the storage capacity of the reservoir, the tragedy took place. They kept the water to meet needs of the industries in future. When heavy rain occurred in Chhattisgarh, the government had no other option but to release water in haste.”

During his visit to the state on September 17, the Union minister of state for agriculture, Harish Rawat, had said the floods could have been avoided had there been better co-ordination between the Orissa and Chhattisgarh governments. On a day’s visit to Orissa to take stock of the flood situation, Rawat had said he would urge the Central Water Commission (CWC) to set up a hotline between Chhattisgarh and Orissa to regulate the water flow into the Hirakud reservoir, particularly during the monsoon.

After his meeting with the central team last week, Union minister for chemical and fertilisers Srikant Jena had said he also had received allegations that the floods in the Mahanadi river system were man-made. “I have written a letter to the Central Water Commission to probe the allegations. If the allegation turns out to be true, stringent action will be taken,” Jena had said.