Bhubaneswar: An 11-member team of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) today reached Odisha for field inspection of Mahanadi river basin.

The team led by MWDT Chairperson Justice Bela M. Trivedi arrived in Veer Surendra Sai Airport at Jharsuguda in the evening. The team is scheduled to conduct field inspection of Mahanadi river basin in Odisha till March 2.

The Odisha government has declared the members of the visiting MWDT team as state guests. It has also issued a directive to the concerned departments, district administrations and police authorities to make the necessary arrangements for the field inspection by the MWDT team. 

The members of the team are likely to collect detailed data about the waterflow in Mahanadi and evaluate the technical as well as environmental aspects with regard to the water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh, reports said.

It is worth mentioning here that the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted in March 2018 under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, as both Odisha and Chhattisgarh could not reach an amicable agreement on water sharing.

The tenure of the tribunal is set to expire on April 13 this year. The state government, meanwhile, has requested the Centre to extend the tenure of the tribunal till the completion of the hearings.