Bhubaneswar: Chhattisgarh's proposal to interlink three of its rivers with the Mahanadi to boost its irrigation system led the BJD to stall Assembly proceedings twice on Monday.

The BJD said the project would badly affect the water flow from the Mahanadi to Odisha.

Last week, Chhattisgarh's agriculture and water resources minister Brij Mohan Agrawal announced in Raipur that his department had started survey work on linking the Mahanadi with the Tandhula and Pairi rivers, besides connecting the Rehar-Atem, Ahiran-Kharang and Hasdeo-Kewai rivers in Chhattisgarh for better irrigation system.

The statement provided ammunition to the BJD, which is highlighting the BJP-led Centre's apathy towards the interest of Odisha. It had accused the Centre of promoting the BJP-run Chhattisgarh's interest in the water dispute. After the central government's rejection of the proposal to set up a tribunal to adjudicate the dispute between the two states, Chhattisgarh's efforts to interlink the rivers is considered by the BJD yet another move to browbeat Odisha on the Mahanadi issue.

In the Assembly, BJD member Sanjay Das Burma referred to the Chhattisgarh minister's statement and said: "It comes at a time when the matter is seized by the apex court and the two states are logged in a legal battle. The Centre, which is partisan towards Chhattisgarh, had become a mute spectator to this development."

The BJD members stalled the proceedings and shouted slogans against the central and Chhattisgarh governments and urged the Speaker to direct the state water resources department to assess the damage to be caused to the Mahanadi basin in Odisha.

The Speaker adjourned the House till afternoon. When it reassembled, the BJD members took up the Mahanadi issue and the Congress members wanted a discussion on the farmers issue.

In the din, the House was adjourned wit-hout transacting any business.

BJP MLA Pradip Purohit said: "If the BJD is so serious, the state government should make a proper assessment and fight the legal battle in the Supreme Court armed with facts and figures."

BJP legislature party leader K.V. Singh Deo described the BJD's move a "diversionary tactics" to avoid a discussion on farmers' issues.

Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati, too, echoed similar views and said the BJD was raising the Mahanadi and Polavaram issues frequently to stall discussions on burning issues of the state