C’garh has built 516 barrages to stop inflow of Mahanadi river water: Odisha Minister

Bhubaneswar: The Chhattisgarh Government has constructed around 516 barrages in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi river to stop inflow of water from the river, informed Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das.

Replying to a question raised by Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati in Odisha Assembly, the Minister today informed that  inflow of Mahanadi river water into Hirakud reservoir has significantly dropped during non-monsoon season due to construction of barrages by Chhattisgarh.

Sharing details, Das said while Hirakud reservoir has a requirement of 2 million acre feet water during non-monsoon period, the water inflow dropped by around 4 per cent from 1991-21 to 2004-05 and by 37 % from 2005-06 to 2015-16. In 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, flow of water during non-monsoon period reduced by 65 %, 61 %, 57% and 3 %, respectively.

The Minister further informed that the state Government has taken several legal steps to resolve the longstanding water dispute between the two neighbouring states.

“While a statutory complaint was filed before the Centre in 2016 under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act-1956, the original suit was filed in the Supreme Court. As per the Centre’s notification issued on March 12, 2018, Odisha has been placing its demand before Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal on different occasions. In the tribunal, states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhatisgarh have been made parties,” added the Minister.

Also Read: Odisha Assembly pays tribute to CDS Bipin Rawat, wife and 11 others died in chopper crash

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik moved condolence motion to  pay tribute to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other defence officials, who died in chopper crash in Coonoor of Tamil Nadu yesterday.

The House observed one-minute silence in memory of the departed souls. Later, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro adjourned the House till 4 pm.

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