All-party meeting criticises Centre for not forming tribunal

Leaders of several political parties in Odisha today hit out at the central government for not forming a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute between the state and neighbouring Chhattisgarh and decided to move a censure motion against the Centre in the Winter Session of the state Assembly.
The decision to move a censure motion was among the five major proposals mooted at an all-party meeting, held here under the banner of "Mahanadi Bachao Andolan", to discuss steps to ensure the flow of sufficient Mahanadi river water to Odisha to safeguard the interest of the people of the state.

The meeting decided that a censure motion would be tabled in the Assembly against the BJP-led central government as it showed "disrespect" towards the Constitution by "failing" to take steps to set up the Mahanadi river water dispute tribunal.
It was also decided to stage protests in the state Assembly and Parliament against the "unilateral" construction of dams and barrages on the Mahanadi river by Chhattisgarh, to intensify the agitation on the Mahanadi issue in a democratic way, to explore the judicial remedies and to stage an all- party dharna in Bhubaneswar and New Delhi.
The meeting decided that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would be requested to convene another all-party meet on the issue and lead the agitation to save the Mahanadi river.

Leaders of 11 political parties, including the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Congress, the Left parties and Trinamool Congress (TMC) attended the all-party meeting. However, no BJP leader was present at the meeting.

"We will continue with our fight for Mahanadi river water through judicial, democratic and legislative means. We have already taken legal steps and raised the issue in the state Assembly and Parliament, besides staging demonstrations," BJD MP Pratap Deb told reporters.
Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik said it was important to secure Odisha's legitimate share of Mahanadi river water to safeguard the interests of its people.
"Instead of playing politics over the issue, it will be right to start working for the people of the state with a vision for the future," he added.

BJP leaders, on the other hand, defended their absence at the meeting.
State BJP chief Basant Panda told reporters that the BJD government had stated in the Assembly that Odisha would not be affected even if 100 dams were constructed on the Mahanadi as it was getting excess water.
Therefore, the state government should first offer an explanation on this statement, he added.
Senior BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan claimed that the Centre had already agreed to constitute a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi river water row and that the all-party meeting had no relevance.