**Bhubaneswar: ** As the Water Resources Ministry has been holding its first ever Regional Conference at Kolkata on April 16 in a bid to address outstanding water resources issues, inter-State issues, intra and inter-basin issues among the five eastern States of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal, Odisha is also participating in it.
Odisha Co-Operation, Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Minister Surya Narayan Patro and other State Government officials will attend and raise river water disputes with the other invited States.
Informing media on the eve of the conference, the Odisha Minister said, “The inter-state rivers flowing through different States are riddled in various disputes over those rivers. Hence, five States of eastern zone have been invited to the conference. The river disputes of those States will be discussed there.”
“Odisha is joining the conference. It has convened at Kolkata venue. The Union Water Resources Minister will chair it. The ministers and officers of the invited five States will take part in it. We’ll raise the Mahanadi issue there. Also the Polavaram issue will be raised. We’re also having some river disputes with Jharkhand,” he added.
He also informed, “Even though the Centre has notified for constitution of Mahanadi Tribunal after Supreme Court’s order, its Terms of Reference are yet to be framed and handed over to Odisha. Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh has already called for tender bid for the construction of yet another barrage. We’ll raise this issue in the conference.”
Notably, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State (Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation) has proposed to hold the first Regional Conference at Kolkata on April 16, 2018.
The Ministry has also asked the five states to submit agenda items on behalf of their respective State Governments for the maiden Regional Conference by April 11.
In a letter written to Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, the Water Resources Ministry has requested Odisha Water Resources Minister, its Principal Secretary-in-charge, and engineer-in-chief to attend the regional conference.
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