Odisha CM writes to PM Modi over Mahanadi dispute

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rejecting the negotiation committee formed by the Centre to resolve the Mahanadi river water dispute and added that it will only delay setting up of the tribunal to allow Chhattisgarh to complete construction of the disputed projects.

"Expressing concern over Centre's failure to instruct the Chhattisgarh government to stop its works on the ongoing projects started unilaterally on the Mahanadi basin," Patnaik said in a letter to Prime Minister Modi.

He also insisted that the Committee has been composed arbitrarily because as per Inter State Water Dispute Act, 1956 the Centre should have initiated talks through the Prime Minister or Union Minister for Water Resources once it got complaints from a state but Uma Bharti failed to mediate in the issue by not asking Chhattisgarh to first stop the construction. Also, as per the Centre's memorandum, the Committee is not intended to negotiate the dispute but record its views.

Patnaik said the outcome from such a committee with representatives from states who have no real stake will lack focus and unnecessarily delay the whole process.