Bhubaneswar, April 11:The long pending Mahanadi water dispute between Odisha & Chhattisgarh nears resolution as the Tribunal favors for amicable settlement with the consensus of both the stakeholders.
Odisha Advocate General Pitamber Acharya informed it on Saturday while briefing media on the issue.
Lauding the efforts and adjudication of the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal and the positive response of the governments of Odisha & Chhattisgarh Acharya said that, a significant progress has been made regarding the geopolitical issue where both sides have ignored & left behind silly matters those stood barriers on the way of resolution. Meanwhile, both the governments came ahead with positive interests whereas the Chief-Secretary and Secretary-level meetings between the two states gave impetus to go further ahead to draw an amicable solution to the problem through dialogues and discussions. Apart from it, technical teams empowered by the states took up the hydrological survey with assessing the water yield of the Mahanadi and submitted its report to the Mahanadi Water Dispute Tribunal. Based on it, the Tribunal conducted the subsequent hearing and encouraged the stakeholders to go ahead with a peaceful and amicable settlement.
Underlining the tenure of the Mahanadi Water Dispute Trinunal, the Advocate General said, the term of the statutory Tribunal has been extened till January 13, 2027. Acting on the stagnancy of the Tribunal owing to the vacancy of the Chairman post for over 7 months, the Center accorded to extend the term of the Tribunal with a notification published yesterday.
The Mahanadi Water Dispute is a political issue for which both the governments and its leaderships need to align with the solution. Efforts are underway from both the governments to end the legal fight as soon as possible. However, a crucial bilateral discussion is going to be scheduled soon involving legal teams, government officials and technical teams, that will work out on the final resolution to the long-fought battle, Acharya added.
