Bhubaneswar, Aug. 20: The state government today claimed that the demand it raised during a meeting in New Delhi on July 29 to resolve Mahanadi river dispute with the Chhattisgarh government did not find place in the minutes of the meeting prepared by the Centre.
State water resources secretary P.K. Jena said: "We have received the minutes of the tripartite meeting on August 16. We are surprised to find that many points raised by our chief secretary in New Delhi were missing."
After the Mahanadi water-sharing dispute snowballed into a major controversy, the Union water resources ministry had called a meeting of Chhattisgarh and Odisha governments in New Delhi on July 29. Both the states placed their views at the meeting. According to the practice, all the points raised in the meeting are incorporated in the minutes and follow-up actions are taken accordingly.
In his letter to the under secretary of the Union ministry of water resources, Jena said: "Some of the views of the Odisha government presented at the said meeting and some points mentioned by the officer on special duty of the water resources ministry, who chaired the meeting, have not been incorporated properly in the minutes."
Jena said Odisha wanted to know about Chhattisgarh's master plans on various projects and the water usage policy by the Chhattisgarh government. "It was mentioned by the Odisha government that the proposed annual utilisation of 26,542 millions cubic metre of water by Chhattisgarh posed serious threat to the state, particularly to the Hirakud reservoir and Mahanadi basin downstream. No information regarding the proposed master plan is available with the Odisha government," he said.
At the meeting, Odisha had raised the issue of how the master plan was shared neither by the Chhattisgarh government nor by the Central Water Commission. But these points are also missing in the minutes, officials said.
"Unless we get to know about it, how can we prepare our plan for the Hirakud and for management of water in the down stream? This is essential for the proper management of the water flow," he said.
The water resources secretary also raised his concern about how the Kelo project in Chhattisgarh was given sanction by the commission. But, it also did not find place in the minutes. "It was raised by the Odisha government that the Central Water Commission had given techno-economic clearance to the Kelo project in its 95th technical advisory meeting on January 20, 2009. The Odisha government was neither invited to the meeting nor were the minutes shared with us even though the project is located in the inter-state river basin of the Mahanadi," stated the letter.
The state had also raised its objection to the Arpa-Bhainsijhar projects and urged the Union ministry to ensure proper development of inter-state river basin.
The BJP state unit, on the other hand, has taken exception to Jena's media statement. "Jena violated the service rules of the Union government by disclosing the confidential letter," said party spokesperson Sajjan Sharma.
In a related development, the BJD today intensified its protest to save the Mahanadi. Members of Biju Mahila Janata Dal (BMJD) staged a kalash yatra (procession with earthen water pots) on this issue in Bargarh today.
The BMJD members collected water from two places of Bargarh in earthen pots and moved around the town carrying the water, raising slogans against the Chhattisgarh and Union governments. At Gandhi Chhak, they poured water on the photographs of Chhattishgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Union water resources minister Uma Bharati and Union water resources minister Sanjeev Balyan.
Additional reporting by Subrat Mohanty in Sambalpur
