Raman Singh asks officials to expedite projects on Mahanadi

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Raipur, Aug 4: 

On the face of ongoing protests in Odisha against construction of projects by Chhattisgarh Government on the upper catchment on Mahanadi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has asked his officials to expedite the construction of the projects.

According to reports, during a review meeting held yesterday, Singh laid emphasis on the projects that have started in the past two years and asked the Water Resources Department to expedite construction in order to finish them on time.

According to a source familiar with the development, the Chief Minister has been told that that the main Arpa project is 74% complete and work on the Arpa canal project has reached 32% completion.

Odisha Unit of BJP today reacted sharply to the development and asked Odisha Government “to take up the issue with the Center and Chhattisgarh Government instead of wasting time politicizing it”.

It may be mentioned here that speaking to reporters on August 1, Singh insisted that “all the projects of Chhattisgarh Government on Mahanadi have been approved by the CWC” and categorically made it clear that the construction of the projects won’t stop.

Besides, he yesterday took on Odisha Government and alleged that the BJD government is politicizing the issue for political gains.

“Hirakud is a non issue. There is no agenda here. Chhattisgarh at best keeps only 20 percent of the water. They are just trying to keep the issue alive politically for their interests. They are yet to understand that all the water from Chhattisgarh goes to Hirakud. At times so much water goes to Hirakud that they have to keep as many as 22 gates open to let the water pass,” Singh had said.