BJD slams Centre over constructions over Mahanadi by C'garh

The ruling BJD in Odisha today attacked the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre over constructions in the upstream of the Mahanadi river in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, and said it will stage protests in 15 districts across the state from Monday till August 11.
"The NDA is no different from UPA. Both have taken anti-Odisha stand," state minister Sanjay Dasburma alleged at a press conference here.
The state government had sought Centre's intervention as Chhattishgarh allegedly took up the projects - 11 major, 8 medium and 7 check dams - unilaterally without consulting Odisha. This is against the Inter-State Agreement signed between Madhya Pradesh and Odisha in 1983, he claimed.

BJD vice president and Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya said party activists will stage demonstrations in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Subarnapur, Boudh, Angul, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda and Deogarh districts.
Alleging that the Chhattisgarh government was "deliberately planning" to check the flow of Mahanadi river water to Odisha, BJD has demanded that the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Centre must intervene and stop the work on the projects immediately.
"We expect the CWC to intervene. If the CWC does not carry out its responsibility, then legal fight is the last resort," Acharya said.

"Some of the barrages of which information is available are, Kalma Barrage, Saradihi Barrage, Basantpur Barrage, Seorinarain Barrage, Mironi Barrage and Samoda Barrage. However, no official communication has been received on any of these barrage projects from Chhattisgarh.

"Theses barrages, if operated in upstream of Hirakud reservoir, will severely impair the non-monsoon flow of the river as well as early monsoon flows to the reservoir," Dasburma said.
Meanwhile, J B Mohapatra, the Chief Engineer of Water Resources Department said two senior engineers will visit Chhattisgarh on Monday to inspect certain under-construction project sites and verify the master plan.