Chhattisgarh has constructed around 516 barrages in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi river resulting in the reduction of water inflow to the river by 37 per cent between 2005 and 2016 in the non-monsoon period, the Odisha government told the assembly on Thursday.
Replying to a question raised by Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati in Odisha Assembly, water resources minister Raghunandan Das said the inflow of Mahanadi river water into Hirakud reservoir has significantly dropped during the non-monsoon season due to the construction of barrages by Chhattisgarh.
“While Hirakud reservoir has a requirement of 2 million acre-feet water during non-monsoon period, the water inflow dropped by around 4 per cent from 1991-21 to 2004-05 and by 37% from 2005-06 to 2015-16. In 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 flow of water during the non-monsoon period reduced by 65%, 61 % and 57% respectively. However, in 2019-20, the reduction in the flow of water was just 3%,” Das said. Incidentally, 61 of the 66 gates of Chhattisgarh’s Kalma barrage, situated along the border of Jharsuguda district, have been shut this winter resulting in an inflow of just 5100 cusecs of water to Hirakud reservoir.
The river, which runs through at least 20 of Odisha’s 30 districts, fuels Odisha’s economy and agriculture as over 60% of the state’s 4.2 crore population depends on it. After a 25-km long earthen dam was constructed across the river at Hirakud area of Sambalpur district in 1953, the dammed water irrigates over 2.35 lakh hectares of cropland and generated 347.5 megawatts of hydropower for the state. Besides, six biodiversity hotspots in Odisha – including the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary, Chilika lake, Tikarpada sanctuary and Chandaka elephant reserve – directly depend on the river.
{{/usCountry}}The river, which runs through at least 20 of Odisha’s 30 districts, fuels Odisha’s economy and agriculture as over 60% of the state’s 4.2 crore population depends on it. After a 25-km long earthen dam was constructed across the river at Hirakud area of Sambalpur district in 1953, the dammed water irrigates over 2.35 lakh hectares of cropland and generated 347.5 megawatts of hydropower for the state. Besides, six biodiversity hotspots in Odisha – including the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary, Chilika lake, Tikarpada sanctuary and Chandaka elephant reserve – directly depend on the river.
{{/usCountry}}Since 2016, Odisha and Chhatisgarh are locked in a bitter dispute over the former alleging reduction in water quantity in non-monsoon months by the construction of 6 industrial barrages - Kalma, Saradi, Basantpur, Mirauni, Sheorinarayan and Samoda, four of which have been completed - by the latter.
In March 2018, the Centre constituted the Mahanadi Water Disputes tribunal under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act-1956 to adjudicate the water dispute between Odisha and Chhatisgarh after the Supreme Court directed the Centre to form a tribunal. The three-member tribunal, headed by justice AM Khanwilkar with justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Indermit Kaur as its member, has been tasked with the job to determine water sharing among basin states on the basis of the overall availability of water in the complete Mahanadi basin, contribution and present utilisation of water resources in each state and the potential for future development.
Though 21 meetings of the tribunal over the dispute have happened since its formation including its last meeting in September this year, they have failed to yield any result. “The common information format for sharing of information between states is yet to be finalised. The format is important as it deals with 61 subjects related to the dispute,” said Sudarshan Das, convenor of Mahanadi Bachao Andolan, a civil society initiative of Odisha on the Mahanadi water dispute.
Das said the tribunal has so far been lacklustre as the hope of an interim order stopping any further construction on upper reaches of Mahanadi by Chhatisgarh has not happened.
“Though the tenure of Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal has been extended up to March 11 2023, the dispute resolution is not going the right way. The central authorities like the CWC and the CGWA have not been very proactive. Political parties of Odisha including the BJD, the BJP and the Congress have also not been very vociferous in demanding a quicker and meaningful resolution that would ensure the lower reaches of Mahandi don’t run dry in non-monsoon months,” said Das.