Amit Shah to host talks on Odisha-Chhattisgarh river dispute

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will preside over a meeting on October 1 aimed at resolving the Mahanadi river water-sharing dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Odisha’s Advocate General Pitamabar Acharya said the chief ministers of both states were expected to present their positions. Chief secretaries and chief engineers from their water-resources departments will also attend.

Acharya said the meeting was expected to build confidence and trust between the states and support an agreed final resolution. Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil chaired an earlier high-level meeting on the matter on July 30.

The two states have asserted competing claims over the Mahanadi for a decade. Engineers from both sides have held several technical meetings and submitted reports to the Central Water Commission, the country’s apex technical and administrative body for river-water management, according to Acharya. The commission is expected to submit its report to the Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Bela M.

Trivedi. Acharya said the tribunal would take the final decision. He said political and technical negotiations could produce the best outcome and suggested that a regulatory body might eventually oversee water-sharing on the river.

He also said direct discussions between the states could help address contentious issues. The dispute concerns the Mahanadi, which originates in Chhattisgarh and flows through Odisha before reaching the Bay of Bengal. Odisha’s government has objected to upstream construction, while Chhattisgarh has argued that its share of the river’s catchment gives it the right to use the water.

The Centre constituted the tribunal to address the dispute.