Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the fourth time to constitute a tribunal to settle the Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh.

He also wanted the Centre to direct the Chhattisgarh government to stop ongoing construction of barrages across Mahanadi until the tribunal was formed.

Naveen had earlier raised the issue with the Prime Minister on November 7, November 17 and December 12 last year while demanding for the establishment of a tribunal.

Naveen on Friday reminded Modi that the Supreme Court passed an order on January 23 directing the central government to constitute the tribunal within a period of one month under Section 4 (1) of the Inter State Water Disputes Act of 1956 for adjudicating the inter-state dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh in respect of the Mahanadi.

Citing the Supreme Court's judgment, Naveen wrote: "The judgment, as a first step, has brought a sense of relief to the people of Odisha by way of protecting its age-old rights and interests in the waters of Mahanadi. I would like to emphasise that 60 per cent of the population of Odisha depend on Mahanadi for meeting the needs of irrigation and drinking water. The ecology and environment dependent on Mahanadi is far too important to be ignored."

"If the construction of these ongoing works is not stopped immediately, my state would be forced to meet a situation of fait accompli," he said.