Mahanadi, the 834-km-long river flowing through Chhattisgarh and Orissa, has of late become a serious bone of contention between the two states with each of them demanding a fair share of its water.
The conflict between the two states is not only going to affect people on both the sides but a third state — Andhra Pradesh — is also going to be seriously impacted by it. The Union government’s proposal for Mahanadi and Godavari River Linking Project (MGRLP), which has been facing stiff opposition from the Orissa government since its conceptualisation, would now see the state making its stand tougher.
Orissa has strongly objected to Chhattisgarh government’s recent construction of number of barrages — both of big and medium — over the Mahanadi. The state apprehends Mahanadi’s water flow would substantially get depleted once all the barrages are constructed.
The multi-purpose Hirakud dam will also receive inadequate water flow from Chhattisgarh side. The fall in the water flow, as Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik points out, would hamper the state’s irrigation potentiality and hydro power production.
Although chief secretaries of both the states agreed in a meeting in New Delhi on July 29 to share information on the ongoing and the future projects being constructed over the river by them, none of the two states appears to be in a mood to compromise with its fair share of the Mahanadi water. Apart from the impacts the Chhattisgarh government’s construction of barrages and dam will have on agriculture sector and power production in Orissa, the major repercussion it will have is on the Mahanadi-Godavari River Linking Project.
The reduce flow of water from Chhattisgarh side will only bolster Orissa’s opposition to the project.
According to state water resources secretary Pradip Jena, since there has been no complete study on the impact of the Mahanadi-Godavari Linking Project, the state government cannot agree to the proposal.
“As per an estimate, Mahanadi river will experience a sharp fall in its flow to the tune of 51 lakh cusecs of water. This will create serious water crisis in the river basin,” contends Mr Jena.
Official sources said the catchment area of Mahanadi up to Hirakud dam in Orissa is 82,432 square kilometres, out of which 71,424 sq km are in Chhattisgarh, which is 86 per cent of the total catchment area. The average inflow of Mahanadi at Hirakud dam is 40,773 million cubic metres (MCM), out of which 35,308 MCM is the share of Chhattisgarh.
According to Chhattisgarh chief secretary Vivek Dhand, his state his now drawing only 9,000 MCM, which is only 25 per cent of the available water in the river.
An unconfirmed source said that Chhattisgarh, which earns around Rs 800 crore from industrial use of Mahanadi water, wants to maximize its revenue generation by exploiting more of the natural resource. Since this move directly clashes with Odisha’s interests and affects over four crore people living in the downstream in Odisha, it remains to be seen how the two states and the Centre resolve the dispute.
