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 The people and Governments of both Chhattisgarh and Odisha may come to loggerheads over sharing of the Mahanadi river water in future, renowned Water Sector Expert and Independent Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha AV Swamy observed on Tuesday.

“Swamy was speaking at a one-day Consultation on the theme “Threats on Chhattisgarh rivers with Focus on Mahanadi Basin in the Present Context” organized by Nadi Ghati Morcha in the city here.

“In 1950, Odisha used to get 71 billion cubic meter water of Mahanadi from Chhattisgarh, which has reduced by 10 billion cubic meter water by now. With increasing population and number of industrial units coming up in both the States, the dependency on Mahanadi river water has also increased significantly” he explained.

He added that disproportionate use of Mahanadi river water by the residents and industrial units established near Mahanadi Basin will be a matter of concern in the times to come. The Convenor of Nadi Ghati Morcha, Gautam Bandhopadhya and the experts including Lingraj Azad, Ranjan Panda, Dr Anand Mishra and Nand Kumar Kashyap expressed an urgent need to present the perspective of the dying condition of the rivers for their conservation.

They added that the uninterrupted human intervention in and around the river basins has affected not only the health of the rivers, but it has also affected the human health and environment.

Source: 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/raipur/conflict-likely-over-mahanadi-water-sharing-av-swamy.html