Chhattisgarh using only its share of Mahanadi water: Raman Singh
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said the Centre has convened a meeting of Chief Secretaries of Odisha and Chhattisgarh on Friday to consider various issues concerning water and projects in the Mahanadi Basin.
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Raipur: With Odisha raising concerns over the construction of barrages on Mahanadi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday said the Mahanadi issue was being "unnecessarily politicised" as the state was proceeding with the projects only after the Central Water Commission`s (CWC) nod.
"Chhattisgarh is taking water after getting nod from the CWC. In fact, we have the right to take more water. We are currently using 25 percent of water," Singh told reporters.
"This issue is just being unnecessarily politicised. The Chhattisgarh Government has already taken nods for various projects and only after that it has started working on it. When we will have a discussion, we will ask for more water share that belongs to us and that we will use for irrigation and other facilities," he added.
Meanwhile, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said the Centre has convened a meeting of Chief Secretaries of Odisha and Chhattisgarh on Friday to consider various issues concerning water and projects in the Mahanadi Basin. Replying to a brief discussion in response to a Calling Attention notice in the Rajya Sabha today, Bharti said if found necessary, a ministerial-level meeting could also be called to resolve the dispute between the two states.
Earlier, Minister of State for Water Resources Dr. Sanjiv Kumar Balyan said a Joint Control Board, which was proposed by a 1983 memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, could not be constituted till today.
He said the board was supposed to review the progress, execution and preparation of joint inter-state irrigation and power projects and to discuss and resolve any issue.Dissatisfied over the two ministers` reply, BJD members staged a walkout. Raising the issue, Dilip Kumar Tirkey of the BJD alleged that Chhattisgarh had undertaken construction of barrages on Mahanadi without consulting Odisha.He said the construction of barrages will adversely impact agriculture, availability of drinking water, power generation in Odisha.
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