Odisha, Chhattisgarh CMs to meet Amit Shah over Mahanadi water dispute

The chief ministers of Odisha and Chhattisgarh will meet on Thursday under the chairmanship of Union home minister Amit Shah in a fresh attempt to resolve a long-running dispute over sharing the waters of the Mahanadi river, state advocate general Pitambar Acharya said on Monday.

The meeting is expected to advance talks between the two neighbouring states, with Acharya saying there is now a possibility of reaching a mutually acceptable solution.

“A meeting of the two chief ministers will be held under the chairmanship of the Home Minister. A path towards resolving the dispute through mutual understanding is emerging,” Acharya said.

He said the secretary of the Central Water Commission (CWC) submitted details of the last two meetings between the states to the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal, as directed by the tribunal, which took the submissions on record.

The development follows a September 20 meeting between CM Mohan Charan Majhi and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Vishnu Deo Sai in Bhubaneswar. The two leaders held discussions for more than an hour on issues including the Mahanadi.

Sai said after the meeting that there was no major problem between the two states over the river’s waters and expressed confidence that the dispute would be resolved soon. He also said officials from the two states previously held discussions in New Delhi and agreed to accept CWC recommendations if they were beneficial to both Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

The Mahanadi water-sharing dispute has strained relations between the neighbouring states for years and is pending before the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal.

The tribunal, set up by the federal government in March 2018, has encouraged Odisha and Chhattisgarh to seek a negotiated settlement. The Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, the CWC and senior officials from both states have since held technical-level discussions as part of that process.

Data jointly submitted by the two states to the tribunal puts the Mahanadi’s annual water availability at 62.36 million acre-feet (MAF), with Odisha’s share estimated at 33.17 MAF and Chhattisgarh’s at 28.94 MAF. Water availability at 50%, 70% and 90% dependability has been estimated at 61.12 MAF, 46.62 MAF and 37.25 MAF, respectively.