Bhubaneswar, Jan 17 (PTI) The Odisha government’s inter-party committee on Mahanadi water dispute on Saturday decided to undertake a two-day visit to Chhattisgarh on January 31 and request the Centre to extend the tenure of the tribunal hearing the water sharing case between the two states. The decision in this regard was taken at the second meeting of the inter-party committee chaired by Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo. Two other ministers – Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari and Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan were also present.
“It has been decided at the meeting that the state government’s committee will visit Chhattisgarh on January 31 and February 1 to discuss with the neighbouring state on the Mahanadi water sharing. We will apprise the Chhattisgarh government of Odisha’s stand,” Singh Deo told reporters.
The DyCM said that ahead of the panel’s visit to Chhattisgarh, the meeting resolved to convene an all-party meeting on January 23 to finalise the state’s stand. The people who are staging agitation over the matter will also be consulted on that day.
Singh Deo said that the panel’s visit will be held before the next date of hearing on February 7, 2026, by the Mahanadi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT), which was formed on March 12, 2018. Odisha will place its arguments before the tribunal along with Chhattisgarh during the hearing, he said.
Stating that the tenure of the MWDT comes to an end on March 13, Singh Deo stated that the tribunal has so far recorded the statement of only one witness. He said that the post of the chairperson of the tribunal remained vacant for about nine months. Therefore, the tenure of the tribunal should be extended.
Apart from the ministers, BJD MLA Niranjan Pujari, Congress legislator Sofia Firdous and the Chief Whip of the ruling party Saroj Pradhan also attended the meeting.
Earlier, Singh Deo had mentioned that the state government was trying to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh through negotiation, as the state government is of the view that such matters should be solved amicably through political dialogue between the two states.
So far, the chief secretaries of both states have held discussions over the matter at least twice, and technical teams of Odisha and Chhattisgarh exchanged their data on the water situation in the inter-state river of Mahanadi. PTI AAM AAM RG
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