Naveen has no sincerity to resolve Mahanadi water dispute-BJP
15 September, Bhubaneswar
A last minute decision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to seek public opinion on Mahanadi water dispute before the scheduled tripartite meeting at New Delhi on September 17, is nothing but a political compulsion, Odisha BJP unit president Basant Panda said.
On September 12, after presiding over a meeting called to review the stand, the Odisha government at the tripartite meeting convened by Union Water Resource Minister Uma Bharati, the Chief Minister announced that the state government was fully prepared to present its case at the meeting.
The Chief Minister who has been avoiding to hold an all-party meeting over the issue as proposed and demanded by the opposition political parties, however, of late sought the advice and suggestions from the common people, political parties and voluntary organisation on the issue.
Panda told newspersons here that the Naveen Patnaik government has no sincerity to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute and has sought advice from the people and political parties under political compulsion.
He said, since the government has not yet clarified the dispute on the utilsation of Mahanadi water between Odisha and Chhatisgarh and the likely adverse impact in the state due to the construction of projects by Chhatisgarh, seeking advice and suggestion from others would be like “groping in the dark”.
In response to the Chief Minister’s appeal around 45 organisations including some political parties, have already called on Patnaik at his secretariat chamber and submitted their suggestions through memorandum during the last two days.
The BJP leader said the BJD government is making a mockery of the issue by seeking advice from the public on Mahanadi row after stating that the government is fully ready for the tripartite meeting.
He said, on the Mahanadi row except making statements, the government has not yet made any official stand so far. There has been contradictory statements from the officials and the Chief Minister over the issue.
Panda said while state chief secretary A P Padhi and and the water resource secretary Pradeep Jena maintained that the state government has no information about the projects being constructed by the Chhatisgarh government, the Chief Minister in reply to a question in the State Assembly stated that the dams and barrages constructed by the Chhatishgarh would not cause any harm to the state.