Resolve Mahanadi river dispute via mediation, says ex-judge; asks PM to intervene

The former judge said the possibility of a resolution was high, as the same party ran both the state and central governments—the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Published on: Oct 13, 2025, 20:07:25 IST

By Chetan Chauhan

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NEW DELHI: The ongoing dispute over sharing the waters of the Mahanadi river between Odisha and Chhattisgarh should be resolved through mediation and not adjudication, former chief justice of the Orissa high court justice Gopal Gowda said at a dialogue between activists and civil society groups from the two states on Monday, suggesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi step in to help the two states arrive at a settlement.

A view of the swollen Mahanadi river above the danger mark near Mundali in Cuttack. (FILE PHOTO)

There had been little progress in resolving the pending dispute before the Mahanadi River Water Disputes Tribunal, which was set up in March 2018 on the Supreme Court’s directions, he said at an event organised by Mahanadi Bachao Andolan, which has been spearheading the movement for river and riparian rights of people whose lives and livelihoods are tied to the Mahanadi.

The retired judge said the possibility of a resolution was high, as the same party ran both the state and central governments—the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Justice Gowda also cited the example of the Cauvery water dispute, which has been a source of conflict between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for decades, saying the mediation route could deliver a faster solution and be mutually beneficial to all parties involved.

To be sure, the three-member tribunal led by retired Supreme Court justice Bela M Trivedi (retd) had also nudged the two states to continue exploring the possibility of a settlement at its proceedings on September 6. The tribunal will review the action taken in this regard on October 11.

The Mahanadi, originating in Chhattisgarh, flows 857 km before entering Odisha, sustaining irrigation, hydropower and fisheries across at least 20 of Odisha’s 30 districts. After Odisha built the Hirakud dam in the 1950s, the river has irrigated 2.35 lakh hectares and produces 347.5 MW of hydropower. Six biodiversity hotspots—including Bhitarkanika, Chilika and Tikarpada—depend on its flows.

At Monday’s event, Aam Aadmi Party MP and chairman of Rajya Sabha’s Committee of Petitions ND Gupta said the Mahanadi issue should not be treated as a mere dispute over water since its implications are much wider and bear significant ramifications.

Sudarshan Das convenor of Mahanadi Bachao Andolan (MBA) said the gathering resolved to pursue a multi-pronged strategy to resolve the dispute and protect the interests of millions of Odisha’s people, for whom Mahanadi is a lifeline. The negotiations must involve all stakeholders and not remain confined to government corridors only, he added.

The group said a Mahanadi Yatra would be launched from the river’s source to the Bay of Bengal to intensify the campaign against pollution, overexploitation, and encroachment on the river.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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