Sambalpur: Mahanadi Surakhaya Samiti, an apolitical forum combining social activists, on Wednesday blamed the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and the BJD government in the state for the Mahanadi crisis and urged the people to come forward to fight for the right of the state.

An all-religion prayer was organised on the occasion at the meeting venue for praying to God to bless the Chhattisgarh government to "use its conscience" on the contentious water-sharing issue between the two states.

Hundreds of people took part in the rallies that came from different parts of the town to the prayer venue. Bike rallies were seen coming from Dhanupali, Remed and the Samaleswari temple shouting slogans against the Chhattisgarh government and appealing people to join the protest.

The meeting, presided over by social activist Bhagabat Prasad Nanda, was addressed by among others, Jharsuguda MLA and OPCC working president Naba Kishore Das, former minister Jagannath Patnaik, MLAs Prafulla Majhi and Jogendra Behera, CPI-M leader Janardan Pati and CPI leader Ashok Bisi.

Das said 90 per cent of the people of west odisha were dependent on the river. "Let us fight for our right," he said, appealing the people to join hands to "teach the Chhattisgarh government a lesson".

"The Centre has been maintaining silence on the Mahanadi issue, tacitly supporting the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh government while the BJD government in Odisha was never serious over the issue from the very beginning," he said.

CPI-M leader Janardan Pati said more than two-and-half crore people of Odisha were dependent on the river.

"We have to protect at any cost," he said, adding that it was unfortunate that the Raman Singh government has violated the agreement signed by the then Madhaya Pradesh and Odisha governments in 1983.