Cuttack, Nov. 11: The BJD today intensified campaign to highlight the contentious three-cornered Mahanadi water-sharing dispute among Odisha, Chhattisgarh and the Centre.

Chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik launched a signature campaign here from near Anand Bhavan - his ancestral home - to intensify public awareness about the issue and vowed to fight against the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government "till the last breath".

The campaign aims to collect signatures from 87 lakh families from across the state during a month-long drive against the unilateral construction of barrages in Mahanadi upstream by the Chhattisgarh government. Later, the signatures would be presented to the President seeking his intervention in the matter.

The campaign is a fresh move after the failure of Naveen's tripartite meeting with Union water resources minister Uma Bharati and his Chhattisgarh counterpart, Raman Singh, on September 17. There has been no response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue.

"Even though I sought the Prime Minister's intervention to resolve the dispute, no response has yet been received from him. We have used the options in a federal structure. Now, we have decided to go to the court of law to save the future of the people of Odisha," Naveen said kick-starting the statewide drive.

In a letter to Modi on September 30, Naveen had said that Odisha wanted a good relationship with Chhattisgarh. If Odisha is provided with the water in the Mahanadi basin, the state would not approach the courts over the matter.

Naveen said: "Mahanadi is like the mother for the people of Odisha. Its water flows like blood in every Odia."

"If construction of barrages by Chhattisgarh in Mahanadi upstream is not stopped, Odisha will be adversely affected," Naveen said. "What will happen to agriculture? What will happen to the farmers and fishermen? Drinking water and all spheres of life will be affected. The coastal area will be more affected, saline ingress will increase."

Odisha is predominantly an agrarian economy and about two-thirds of its population depend on agriculture. The river is the lifeline for 17 of its 30 districts. The availability of safe drinking water and sanitation largely depends on the Mahanadi.

State ministers, MPs, MLAs, senior party leaders and several other people, including former vice-chancellor of Berhampur University M.Q. Khan, eminent neurosurgeon Sanatan Rath and environmentalist Ashutosh Debata, took part in the campaign.

On the occasion, Naveen released a CD of singer Trupti Das called Mahanadi Rah Kahani (Story of Mahanadi) with lines that go, "Bahi muhn jauchi, kalibi Odisha reh thili, kalibi thibi."

BJD leader Surya Narayan Patra said the Centre had been silently supporting the Chhattisgarh government on the Mahanadi water dispute despite Odisha's stiff opposition.

The BJD leaders are peeved because Chhattisgarh has taken up construction of several major and medium projects in Mahanadi upstream without consulting Odisha and projecting them as minor schemes when they are actually meant for industrial purposes.

Odisha has maintained the stand that the construction of seven barrages poses a serious threat to the non-monsoon (September to June) water flow to the Hirakud reservoir. Once the projects are complete, flow to the downstream will reduce. This will affect the fragile ecosystem of the Mahanadi - particularly Satkosia, Bhitarkanika wetlands, Chilika lagoon, Gahirmatha turtle habitat and the Mahanadi delta itself.

The Mahanadi delta covers 95,000sqkm and the delta region has a 200km coastline. Also, Odisha is a cyclone-prone state and the mangroves in the delta are the first line of defence against the sea. Adequate water in the Mahanadi is an important pre-requisite to maintain the eco-system.

In Sambalpur, thousands of farmers of Odisha and Chhattishgarh under the banner of Paschim Odisha Krushak Sangathan Samanwaya Samiti held a "Sankalp Chetabani Samavesh" at Pitapali near the Hirakud reservoir to protest against the allocation of Mahanadi water to industries.

Samiti convener Lingaraj said the Odisha and Chhattishgarh governments were competing with each other to give Mahanadi water to the industries and mislead the people by calling it a "mahasangram" between the two states.

Farmer leader from Raigarh in Chhattisgarh, Bishnu Sevak Gupta, said: "Both the Naveen Patnaik and Raman Singh governments had entered into memorandums of understanding with the industrial houses for giving them Mahanadi water. We want both the governments to cancel the pacts. Though efforts are being made by the governments to create differences between the farmers of Odisha and Chhattishgarh, we are united," he said.

The farmers took an oath with the Mahanadi water in their hands to fight against the Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments' love for industries and save the livelihood of the people dependent on the Mahanadi.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SUBRAT MOHANTY IN SAMBALPUR