Bhubaneswar, Nov. 22: BJD's most-trusted spokesperson Pratap Deb today embarrassed his own party by saying that some government departments have been furnishing wrong information in the Assembly, which is considered as the temple of democracy.

Deb was talking to newspersons here on the issue of Odisha government's recent complaint application with the Union water resources ministry on the issue of the Mahanadi water-sharing dispute with Chhattisgarh government. The state government has sought the constitution of a tribunal to resolve the issue.

Deb made the statement when asked how the then parliamentary affairs minister, Raghunath Mohanty, while replying to a question on Mahanadi on behalf of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who also holds the water resources portfolio, had told the Assembly in 2010 that there would be no dearth of water in Odisha despite Chhattisgarh move's to construct barrages in the upstream of the river.

Mohanty had also said that as the volume of upstream water flow to Odisha in the last 25 years had gone up, the construction of barrages would not affect the state.

In this context Deb said: " It is found at times that some departments furnish wrong information in the Assembly. But the fact remains that whatever information the state government has mentioned in its petition to the Union ministry is absolutely correct and there must not be any doubt about it."

The Telegraph, in its February 5, 2011 edition, had quoted the then water resources secretary Suresh Mohapatra as saying: "Orissa will not have any problem even if the Chhattisgarh government builds 100 barrages. We are using only a small quantity of water from the Mahanadi river system. Mahanadi basin is a surplus water basin.In the last 25 years, the water flow has more than doubled. Only 30 per cent is used for irrigation purposes and 10 per cent for industry. The remaining 60 per cent goes downstream. The water should be used purposefully."