Mahanadi row: BJD team to visit Chhattisgarh project site

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 5:

Odisha’s ruling party- BJD today announced a 12-member team to visit Chhattisgarh on August 7 and 8 to make an on-spot assessment of the ongoing projects on the upper catchment of river Mahanadi there.

The team to be led by party’s Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya was announced after it was approved by the party’s supremo Naveen Patnaik. The 12-member team will comprise of BJD leaders and some technical advisors.

“A 12-member team with me as the chairperson has been constituted. Ministers Debi Prasad Mishra, Pradip Amat, Sanjay Das Burma, senior western Odisha leader Mangala Kissan, Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) president Kishore Mohanty, former minister Padmanav Behera, Redhakhol MLA Rohit Pujari, Convener of Krushak Morcha Sushant Singh, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb, former minister Pramila Mallick and Sambalpur MLA Raseswari Panigrahi are the prominent members of the team,” Prasanna Acharya told reporters here today.

“We have included retired engineers who were earlier connected with Hirakud Das as advisors in the team. They are former engineer-in-chief (EICs) of Water Resources department Sarat Mohanty, Sridhar Behera, and Ramesh Chandra Rath. If the need so arose, more technical advisors will be included in the team,” he added.

The team will submit its report to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik after holding discussions with different technical experts, civil society members and leaders of political parties, Acharya informed.