Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has decided to construct as many as seven barrages in the downstream of the Mahanadi river.

The state government had earlier come under criticism for its failure to construct a second barrage over the Mahanadi river even after 70-years of Independence,

Not only the Opposition, even BJD's senior leader and former minister Damodar Rout, had expressed his concern about the state's inability to build a second barrage over the Mahanadi river on Friday.

Addressing a news conference on the activities of water resources minister Niranjan Pujari said: "We are preparing a master plan to build barrages in the downstream of the Mahanadi. Once the barrages come up, we will be able to check the drain of water to the sea."

Secretary of the department P.K. Jena said: "We had earlier identified five places and now another two places have been identified. We will build barrages in all these places. These are under various stages of approval."

Jena said: "Besides constructing the barrages on the downstream of the Mahanadi, we have also planned to construct 22 barrages on tributaries and distributaries of the river."

At present, the state has only one multi-purpose barrage Hirakud reservoir on Mahanadi whose water retention capacity has also been reduced to a great extent due to silting. At present, its maximum water retention capacity stands at 630 feet.

After Chhattisgarh constructed as many as six barrages over Mahanadi on its upper stream, the flow of water below Hirakud has been reduced to a great extent. Its impact has already been felt. The BJD has also announced to launch a Save Mahanadi campaign from May 16.