The Biju Janata Dal (BJD)’s risk of pan-Odisha protests in opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Get together authorities’s alleged inaction within the state and the Middle, in addition to the last-minute cancellation of an all-party assembly on January 23, has introduced the dispute with Chhattisgarh over the state’s largest river, the Mahanadi, thought-about the lifeblood of the state, again into focus.
Odisha, which is positioned downstream of the Mahanadi River, has taken a strict stance on water sharing with Chhattisgarh, which is positioned upstream.
Odisha alleged that Chhattisgarh was “unilaterally establishing” embankments alongside the river, affecting influx into the state in the course of the non-monsoon season.
In September 2016, the Narendra Modi authorities tried to resolve the difficulty at a tripartite assembly attended by then Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh. The assembly was chaired by the then Union Water Assets Minister Uma Bharti.
Nevertheless, the Patnaik authorities accused the Middle of siding with Chhattisgarh, which was dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Get together. The BJD sought a authorized answer to the difficulty and likewise sought the institution of a tribunal to resolve the difficulty.
Contemplating the significance of the Mahanadi river, which traverses almost 500 km throughout the state, the Bharatiya Janata Get together in Odisha additionally hopes to resolve the difficulty by dialogue. The BJD has raised the difficulty prior to now to focus on the BJP and perform avenue operations, projecting Mr. Patnaik as somebody who fought to safe the pursuits of the state on this difficulty.
Has this matter gone to courtroom?
The matter reached the Supreme Court docket in December 2016 after the then BJD authorities filed its personal go well with beneath Article 131 in search of an injunction in opposition to Chhattisgarh from establishing barges alongside the river.
The Odisha authorities’s transfer comes barely a month after it filed a statutory grievance with the Middle in search of convening of a tribunal beneath the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956.
The BJD and Patnaik hailed the Supreme Court docket’s January 2018 path to the Middle to convene the bench inside a month as a “ethical victory” and argued that it solely vindicated the Odisha authorities’s stand.
In the meantime, Chhattisgarh was in favor of a Joint Administration Board (JCB) to supervise the river venture as per the 1983 settlement between Odisha and Madhya Pradesh (Chhattisgarh was bifurcated in 2000).
In March 2018, the Middle constituted a three-member Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal, chaired by the then Supreme Court docket Justice AM Khanwilkar. The fee has been prolonged a number of occasions, the newest being till April 2026. Following Khanwilkar’s resignation in March 2024, the fee is presently chaired by Supreme Court docket choose Justice Bela Trivedi.
Accusing the earlier BJD authorities of favoring Chhattisgarh, state income minister Suresh Pujari sought a nine-month extension of the courtroom.
Has Odisha’s place modified with the arrival of the brand new authorities?
CM Mohan Charan Majhi caught to his earlier stand of resolving the difficulty amicably and wrote to his Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai in August final yr in search of a “win-win answer”. Sai responded that the proposal was “beneath energetic consideration.”
The Manjhi-led Bharatiya Janata Get together authorities has additionally arrange a high-level committee headed by Deputy CM KV Singh Deo and comprising MLAs from the Bharatiya Janata Get together, Bharatiya Janata Get together and the Congress. The panel was tasked with offering steerage to the federal government to resolve the difficulty. It has additionally been determined {that a} staff will go to Chhattisgarh round January 31 to debate the difficulty.
How essential is Mahanadi?
Based on official information, the overall catchment space of the river is 1,41,600 sq km, of which 45.73% is in Odisha, 53.9% in Chhattisgarh and a small space in Madhya Pradesh.
In view of the large floods brought on by the river, Odisha constructed an enormous 25 km lengthy earthen dam at Hirakud in Sambalpur district in 1953 to safe water for irrigation and energy technology within the western a part of the state.
The river serves as a serious supply of water for agriculture, trade and hydropower in Odisha.
What are the BJD and Congress saying on this difficulty?
After a gathering of the get together’s political affairs committee, senior BJD chief Sanjay Das Burma mentioned the get together would quickly launch an agitation to show the Centre’s “conspiracy” and Majhi authorities’s “inaction” to deprive Odisha of its rightful share of water.
State Congress president Bhakta Chalam Das mentioned the Majhi-led Odisha authorities has clearly proven that it can’t resolve the water dispute.
