Minutes of the meeting of
Chief Ministers of Odisha and Chhatisgarh held under the Chairpersonship of
Union Minister for Water Resources, RD & GR to consider various water resources issues in Mahanadi
Basin on 17.9.2016 at 12.00 noon
at Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi
Just after tripartite meeting, RTI Application was
submitted on 19.9.16 to Dept. of Water
Resources, Govt. of Odisha seeking the
following information
vi. Provide
copy of the documents which was presented in tripartite meeting for discussion
with Chhatisgarh Govt. facilitated by
Uma Bharati, Minister for Water resources.
vii. Provide
information about details of outcome of the tripartite meeting and copy of press release given by Chief
Minister.
Similarly, on dated 26.9.16, RTI Application was
filed to Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India seeking the following information
1.
Provide
copy of the proceedings of the meeting on
Mahanadi water dispute issue between Odisha and Chhatisgarh held on 17.9.16.
2.
Provide
copy of the documents like memorandum or any letter presented by Govt. of
Odisha to Central Govt. on Mahanadi
Water dispute from July to Sept. 2016.
3.
Provide
copy of the document, if any presented
by the representative of Govt. of Odisha in the meeting held under
Chairmanship of Minister for Water Resources on 17.9.16.
While the PIO, Dept. of Water Resources denied to provide me the information, the CPIO, Ministry of Water Resources, Govt.
of India provided the proceedings of
the tripartite meeting on 2nd
Dec. 16. It was also found from the letter of Central Water commission that the
said report has been shared with State Govt.
Despite availability of information, PIO, Dept. of Water Resources,
Govt. of Odisha kept the information
secret.
Extract from the Proceedings of the meeting is as follows.
An inter-state
Meeting was held on 17.9.16 under the chairmanship of
Shushri Uma Bharati, Hon’ble Union Minister, Ministry of Water
Resources, RD &GR with Sri Naveen
Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha and Dr. Raman Singh,
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Chhatisgarh
to consider various water resources issues
in Mahanadi basin. The meeting was
attended by Shri Brij Mohan Agrawal, Hon’ble
Minister Water Resoures, Chhatisgarh ,
Shri Debi Prasad Mishra, Hon’ble
Minister Industries , S & ME Odisha, Shri Pushpendra Singhdeo, Hon’ble Minister
H&UD, Odisha , senior
officers of both the states , MOWR and
Central Water Commission ( CWC).
At the outset, the Hon’ble Union Minister welcomed the
participants. She directed the
officers of the MOWR to
present the water scenario in the Mahanadi basin followed by presentation by two states. Initiating
the discussions, Dr. Anarjit Singh , Officer on Special Duty, told about the decisions taken in the Chief Secretary- level inter-state meeting on 29.7.2016
and stated that both the
states had agreed to share the
data related to water resources projects.
He also stressed the need for establishment of Joint-Control Board. Thereafter, Director-Hydrology, CWC made
the presentation about water scenario in Mahanadi basin. He explained
the state-wise details of the drainage areas in the Mahanadi basin ,
major water resources, distribution of catchment area, structures and projects, The 29
year data of run-off observed at the three terminal sites of CWC upstream of Hirakud Dam both during monsoon and non-monsoon did not show any downward trend. Further, the
annual inflows to Hirakud dam both during monsoon and non-monsoon for the last
29 years also did not show any decreasing trend.
This was followed by
Presentations by Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhatisgarh who gave an overview of the
comparative status of water
resources in Chhatisgarh and Odisha , river basis i Chhatisgarh , drainage and inflow profile and analysis of Mahanadi Basin and at Hirakud Dam. He
also touched upon the various ways in which Govt. of Odisha is utilising
the Hirakud waters,
highlighting the change
in scope of the original intent in this project. With regard to six barrages
which are under construction on Mahanadi ( namely samoda, Sheorinarayan,
Basantpur, Mironi, Saradih and Kalma) ,
he stated that
these are minor structures
and no diverse weirs. These six barrages have no canals and as such
they will store only monsoon water. Proposed aggregate irrigation area from all
six barrages is 3,149 hectares through pumps. Since each project individually has less that
2,000 hectares irrigation potential, hence each of them falls under Minor
Irrigation Project category. Storage capacity of all these
barrages taken together is only 274 MCM. Total industrial use in non-monsoon season
will be only 552 MCM. Thus,
utilisation from non-monsson flow will
only be ( 552-274) 288 MCM,
whereas, average non-monsoon flow at Hirakud
is 4446 MCM. He reiterated the
position of Chhatisgarh
that a Joint Control Board may be constituted as per agreement between
erstwhile undivided state of Madhya Pradesh and the state of Odisha dated 28.4.1983. to look ito the complete range of the issues
in Mahanadi basin. He
requested for establishment of CWC
gauging station immediate upstream of Hirakud
at the inter-state border on Mahanadi, Kelo and Mad rivers to monitor
exact flow of
monsoon ad non-monsoon. The Chief Secretary, Chhatisgarh also presented a list of
projects undertaken by Odisha , downstream of Mahanadi in which the
Govt. of Odisha did not consult the upper riparian state.
The Principal
Secretary ( Irrigation ) , Odisha
in his presentation after
explaining the profile
of Mahanadi basin ,
elaborated that in its
original intent, the scope of Hirakud Dam included flood control, irrigation,
power, transport and domestic
use. He stated
that non-monsoon inflow in Hirakud dam, during the last 13 years, has shown a
downward trend. He
expressed apprehension that
the under construction projects
in Chhatisgarh will adversely affect
the future flows downstream
in Odisha. He referred to some unauthorised
constructions especially projects of Chhatsigarh considered by CWC with respect
to which they had not received any information.
The six barrages
mentioned by Chhatisgarh were in his
opinion industrial barrages ,
with storage potential
of 829 MCM of water
even during non-monsoon
season.
The Development
Commissioner, Odisha briefed the
house about fragile ecology
of coastal areas and Mahanadi
flood plains. He pleaded
that a high level Inter-disciplinary Expert Committee may be constituted comprising members from
both the states , water experts,
a long with members from
Central Ministers to
look into the comprehensive
water and environmental issues
in the Mahanadi basin.
Hon’ble
Chief Minister of Odisha desired that
work on all ongoing
projects in Mahanadi basin
in Chhatisgarh state should be stopped for three months and an expert
Committee may be formed to study
the impact of projects
in Mahanadi basin and give its report within three months.
Hon’ble CM of
Chhatisgarh said that 57% of
Mahanadi water is flowing
to sea without any use in basin. The Mahanadi river has sufficient water
to meet the requirements of both the states. He desired that they should agree to form Joint Control
Board as mentioned in 1983 agreement. Further, Govt. of Chhatisgarh stated that
most of the ongoing projects were started
10 years back and they are in their final stages of completion. Hence,
it is not possible
to stop the construction work
on these projects.
Hon’ble Union
Minister stated that since water is in
the state list of the constitution, the
Union Govt. has no authority
to intervene in the state subject.
However, the Union Govt. can facilitate the state
Governments to resolve
inter-state issues , if required.
After detailed
discussions on various issues following decisions were taken in the
meeting.
i.
Special
Committee under chairmanship of Dr.
Amrajit Singh, ( OSD) will be
formed. The committee
will list out the water resources projects in
Odisha and Chhatisgarh those have been constructed or
under construction without
approval of Techical Advisory
Committee ( TAC) of MoWR.
Different Teams will be sent to these states for this work. The committee will submit a report within a week. However, the Hon’ble Union Minister asked the
states to put on hold the project construction works for
one week.
ii.
The
gauge and discharge sites will
be opened at inter-state
border of Odisha and
Chhatisgarh at a location, for effective
measurement of flows from
Chhatisgarh Catchment into Hirakud dam.
iii. A detailed study
of water availability of Mahanadi
basin may be carried out
by National Institute of
Hydrology. , Roorkee.
iv. Govt. of Odisha suggested formation of an expert
committee. Although Chhatisgarh was in favour
of establishment of Joint Control Board
for long term solution, it agreed
to formation of an expert committee as suggested by Odisha.
The members of expert committee
will include experts from different fields ad representatives of
the both the states.
The Hon’ble
Central Minister requested both the states to take care of the needs
of the neighbouring states and to
remain sensitive to each other. She stated
that water is for love, not for wrangling.
Comments: The
State Govt. should put the information
in public domain about the details of
follow up taken to carry out the decision taken in the meeting agreed by both the warring
parties.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date-13.12.16
