Suggestions invited by Chief Minister, Odisha on “Mahanadai Water dispute” was unwanted and
just Eye-wash exercise
Dear friends
In 2016, when the
Govt. of Odisha and Biju Janata Dal raised the issue of over exploitation of Mahanadi Water by
Chhatishgarh Govt. which resulted in dry of riverbed of Mahanadi in Odisha even
during monsoon season and organized mass
movement across the state , the state witnessed
a lot of activism involving all
political parties, social activists, NGOs and intelligentsia and generated
a public debate for resolution of this dispute. Rally, Dharana, demonstration was organized by various political and non-political groups creating war phobia against Chhitashgarh and some others accusing both State Govt. and
Central Govt. for this crisis.
In the midst of on-going debate on Mahanadi Water dispute , Sri Nabin Patnaik,
Chief Minister, Odisha invited suggestions
from public with huge
advertisements for resolution of Mahanadi Water dispute which will
help preparing documents for
presentation in the tripartite meeting dt. 17.9.16. called by Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India for dispute resolution.
Responding
the call of
Chief Minister, thousands of
people and hundreds of organisations including various political parties stood
in queue for the whole day or days together to meet Chief Minister and submit their respective suggestions in form of memorandum.
This melodrama continued for days together
in state secretariat with Chief
Minister receiving memoranda from cross
section of the people. As reported, the Chief Minister only conveyed
“ thanks” to the visiting people without discussing anything about the Mahanadi issues.
After this
event is over, RTI Application dt. 19.9.16 was submitted to the PIO, Department of Water
Resources, Govt. of Odisha seeking
the following information.
i. Details of decision taken at Govt. level to seek public opinion and suggestion
by Chief Minister on Mahanadi Water dispute issue along with copy of file
noting and copy of press release.
ii. Name of the
organizations who met Chief Minister
personally and presented their suggestions with date of their meeting.
iii. Name of
the officials who were in charge of compiling the suggestions given by
different organizations.
iv. Copy of the
suggestions given by different organisations which were included in report /
document prepared for presentation by Chief Minister in tripartite meeting held
at New Delhi on 17.9.16.
v. Name of the
officials who prepared the documents for presentation by Chief Minister in
tripartite meeting.
vi. Copy of the
documents which was presented in tripartite meeting for discussion with Chhatisgarh
Govt. facilitated by Uma Bharati, Minister for Water resources.
vii. Details of outcome of the tripartite
meeting and copy of press release given
by Chief Minister.
This RTI Application was forwarded to the PIO, office of Engineer-in-Chief, Water
Resources to provide information. The PIO
provided incomplete information
with the First Appellate Authority endorsing the same. Then on 5.11.16., the
Second Appeal petition was filed in Odisha Information Commission seeking direction
to the PIO to provide complete information. The hearing of the case
registered as Second Appeal No.
191/2017
was heard by
State Chief Information Commissioner, Odisha
and direction was issued
to the PIO, office of Engineer-in-Chief , Water Resources to provide
complete information as
sought for. The PIO provided all
the information except the
following one which was crucial
for me, as the Chief
Minister has declared that
the important suggestions received
from the experts will be
accepted and put in
the documents for resolution of
water disputes.
iv. Copy of the
suggestions given by different organisations which were included in report /
document prepared for presentation by Chief Minister in tripartite meeting held
at New Delhi on 17.9.16.
When the Commission
made query about reason of non-supply of the information, the PIO, office of EIC, Water Resources
submitted that he had transferred
RTI Application to the parent Department i.e., Water Resources Dept.
to supply the information
due to its non-availability in their office. But the PIO, Water Resources
Department did not
supply the information about “suggestions given by different organisations
which were included in report / document prepared for presentation by Chief
Minister in tripartite meeting held at New Delhi on 17.9.16.”.
It was
reported that the PIO, Dept. of Water Resources could not
provide the same due to non-availability of the
information. It means the
not a single suggestions
given by thousands of people and experts submitted to
Chief Minister was
taken into account for its
incorporation in the final document prepared by the
Govt. for submission to the Central
Govt. Secondly, the plethora of suggestions submitted in form of memorandum
was simply packed in a bag
and stored in a corner of the
office which is
gathering dust till today. Neither the
Govt. has engaged any
officer to open
it nor has any responsible
officer of this Dept. any interest
to study it. It was
just an eye – wash exercise to deceive
the people of Odisha
that Chief Minister cares
their views which
was in fact a big farce.
The story does not end here. On 28.2.20. while adjudicating the
case, the State Chief Information Commissioner has
issued direction to the PIO, Dept. of Water resources to supply
the said information or file an
affidavit about non-availability of
information. The Commission
has also taken adverse view and issued show-cause notice
to the PIO to reply
why penal action under
section 20 will not be taken
against him.
Pradip
Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date-25.6.20
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