Odisha Cong seeks President's intervention on Mahanadi

Congress in Odisha sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention to resolve the ongoing dispute between the state and Chhattishgarh over the Mahanadi river water.

"We urge you to wield your constitutional mandate to protect the interest of multitude of cultivators, instruct the Chhattishgarh Government to desist from the unilateral construction immediately," the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) said in a memorandum to the President.

A CLP delegation led by its leader Narasingha Mishra met the President in New Delhi and apprised him of the situation following Chhattishgarh government's "unilateral" construction of projects on upstream of Mahanadi.

"We also urged the President to instruct the Union Government to share all information with the state of Odisha as regards any change in adverse inflow of water to this state and constitution of an Inter-State River Water Dispute Tribunal immediately so that the matter may be referred to," Mishra told reporters after meeting the President.

Stating that the reduction in inflow of water in Mahanadi will have a serious bearing on the fragile eco-system enveloping the water bodies like Chilika, the largest lagoon of India, the CLP mentioned in the memorandum that wildlife census showed how it was a perfect host to Siberian and similar aviaries of rare species.

Ornithologists have already predicted the extinction of many rare varieties of aviaries in no distant future.

"Further, it (reduction in flow of water in Mahanadi) will have serious impact on the mangrove forest of the Mahanadi delta which has acted as a barrier to high tides and super cyclones. Environmentalists have already predicted the threat of extinction of rare species of alligators in Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary and turtles in Gahirmatha/ Bhitarkanika sanctuary in the river in case of serious reduction in the intake of water in the water bodies," the memorandum said.