Congress white paper on Mahanadi water row blames Naveen for crisis
16 September, Bhubaneswar
The Congress today held Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik squarely responsible for the Mahanadi water dispute between Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Releasing a white paper on Mahanadi water dispute prepared by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee, party president Prasad Harichandan said the Chief Minister, who is in charge of the water resource department for the last 16 years, will be accountable to the people of the state for his incapability to protect the interest of the state.
The Chief Minister, the white paper said, has betrayed the interest of the people of the state by not discharging his duty while holding the water resources portfolio for last several years.
It said the Chhattisgarh government has taken the advantage of the inefficiency of the Odisha government and constructed various projects on the upstream of river Mahanadi for which people of Odisha will now face the consequences.
The government, the white paper said was now shedding crocodile tears after remaining silent for so many years and raising the issue keeping the coming panchayat election in view.
It said though Mr Arjun Sethi from the BJD was the water resource minister in the NDA government at the Centre from 2000 to 2004 the state government did not take any step for the protection of Mahanadi river knowing fully well about the projects by the then Madhya Pradesh government.
The Congress leader said, ”OPCC released the white paper as the Naveen Patnaik government did not concede to the demand of the opposition to publish a white paper on Mahanadi to project a real picture about the damages that would cause to Odisha and the problems to be faced by the people of the state due to the construction work by the Chhatisgarh government.”
Wishing the September 17 tripartite meeting convened by union water resource ministry to resolve the dispute, Mr Harichandan hoped that the dispute between the two states would be amicably solved and the interest of Odisha would be protected at the meeting.