Bharati invites Naveen, Raman to resolve Mahanadi issue

With Odisha and Chhattishgarh on a collision course over sharing of Mahanadi water, the Centre today decided to invite the chief ministers of both the states to Delhi to discuss the matter.
"It has been decided to invite Chief Ministers of Odisha and Chhattisgarh to Delhi for a meeting on any date between September 10 and 20," Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters.
Pradhan said this after a BJP delegation from Odisha met Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati and MOS Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan in New Delhi.
The delegation, led by Pradhan, expressed concerns over the developments taking place over Mahanadi issue and sought assurance from Bharati and Balyan that Odisha gets its due supply of water from the river.

"Bharati has assured us that the Centre would not allow any injustice towards Odisha," Pradhan said.
Bharati also informed that she has asked officials of her Ministry to ensure that Chhattisgarh shared all information sought by Odisha before the meeting of the two Chief Ministers in Delhi.

"My officials have told me that it (sharing of information) will be completed within a week," Pradhan said quoting Bharati.
Pradhan said that Bharati has said that she would write a letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to fix any date between September 10 to September 20 for a meeting between the two chief ministers.

"Let Patnaik decide the date of meeting between September 10 to 20 as per his convenience. The Centre will invite Chhattishgarh Chief Minister on that date," Pradhan said.
The Odisha government has been alleging that the
neighbouring Chhattishgarh unilaterally constructed projects on
the upstream of Mahanadi which caused dip in the flow of water to Odisha.
The issue snowballed into a major controversy between the two states as opposition organised an 'Odisha Bandh' and the ruling BJD continued to agitate against Chhattishgarh government's act of constructing projects on the up stream of Mahanadi.
Earlier, the Centre on July 29 had convened a meeting of senior officials of both the states.

However, the issue continued to remain unsolved as Odisha complained that Chhattishgarh was yet to share information on the matter.
Besides Pradhan, the BJP delegation comprised party's state unit President Basant Panda, the BJP's state legislative party leader K V Singhdeo, senior party leaders Manmohan Samal, Suresh Pujari, Prithviraj Harichandan and state General Secretary Bhrugu Buxipatra.