Odisha Assembly unanimously urged the central government to immediately issue necessary references to make the Mahanadi water Dispute Tribunal functional in compliance to the order of the Supreme Court.

After three days of pandemonium and suspension of the question hour to debate the reduction in flow of water in Mahanadi due to alleged illegal construction of barrages in the upstream of river Mahanadi by Chhatisgarh the house resolved that in view of the consensus opinion and concern, it would urge upon the central government to issue immediately necessary reference U/S 5 (1) of the Inter State River Water Dispute Act 1956 to make the tribunal functional.

Government Chief Whip Amar Prasad Satpathy read out the consensus of the house and urged the Speaker to convey the concern of the house to the Centre.

Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said the directive of the National Green Tribunal does not seem to be a directive to Chhatisgarh government to stop construction work and requested the state government to move the NGT for a specific direction in this regard.

Earlier during the debate each side traded charges with the Congress accusing both the ruling BJD and BJP of politicking , the BJD blaming the BJP led central government of siding with the Chhattisgarh government and the BJP hitting back at the BJD for not doing anything over the last 18 years.

At the end of it all however ,the members jointly expressed concern over the reduction in the flow of water to Mahanadi and said it would not adversely impact irrigation, power generation and livelihood of people in 15 districts .

The reduction of water inflow would also badly affect Hirakud dam and the biodiversity of Chilika lake and the BhitarKanika NationalPark.

Water Resources Minister Niranjan Pujari while replying to the motion said despite repeated request by CM Naveen Patnaik, the Prime Minister did not take any concrete step to resolve the Mahanadi Water dispute issue Even after the SC directed the Centre to constitute the Tribunal in January 2018 the centre is dilly dallying and has not issued the terms of reference, he said.

The water flow was reduced by 79 per cent in May 2017 and it was reduced by more than 40 per cent during November 2017 to January 2018, he informed.

He said though the NGT while adjudicating a case has directed the Chhatisgarh government not to proceed with any new project, the Chhatsigarh government is violating the order and has floated a tender for the construction of a new barrage at Mahamela Siripur.

The Minister said the partial commissioning of six industrial based barrages by the Chhatisgarh government has created serious water problem in Odisha during non monsoon period.

Leader of Opposition, Mr Mishra lambasted the BJP led central government which approportionating equal blame on the Odisha government. The BJD here has always tried to take up the issue on its own without involving other parties.

It is interested in political milege he charged while questioning why two committees on Mahanadi, one of which is headed by the CM had not met till date.