The political batt;e over flood management in the Mahanadi and Subarnarekha river basins in Odisha seems to be getting fiercer even as water has started receding from most of the affected areas.
With hundreds of villages still marooned, the state government continued to blame both Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand for the intensity of the floods in the Mahanadi and Subarnarekha rivers. The state government has maintained that had there been proper coordination between the two governments on the release of water through the Mahanadi and Subarnarekha systems, things would have been different.
The BJP and Congress have accused the government of hiding its failure in the management of floods.
“Not a single barrage has been built in the Mahanadi river system over the years. How many years do you require to build a dam? Had there been a dam, the flood management could have been better. Scores of villages would not have been marooned with the release of a few lakh cusecs of water from Chhattisgarh,” said senior BJP leader Pradip Purohit.
Senior BJP leader Rama Ranjan Baliarasingh said there was no concrete policy on the water discharge from dams and reservoirs. “It’s a man-made flood,” he said. State BJP general secretary Prithiviraj Harichandan demanded that the government should apologise to the people for causing them suffering.
On the issue of flood management in the Subarnarekha river system, which is the lifeline of northern Odisha, Sudarsan Das, a social activist-turned-politician, said: “The state had prepared a detailed master plan with a budget estimate of Rs 980 crore for the Subarnarekha Sanskar (reform) project. But as it lacked full details, it was turned down by the Centre in 2008-09. However, no attempt has been made to revive the plan again. We don’t know where it went wrong. In order to tackle the flood-related issues in the coming days, we need to bring reforms in the flood management system of Subarnarekha,” Das said.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sarat Patnaik on Tuesday visited the flood-hit areas of Balasore district.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) defended its government saying it’s not time to do politics.
“There is enough scope to do politics over the flood. But it’s inappropriate to talk about the issue now. The officials are working hard and managing the situation effectively. We are in the field assisting the people,” said minister Samir Ranjan Dash.
The sentiment was also echoed by a party Rajya Sabha member, Muzibulla (Muna) Khan.
Former engineer-in-chief of water resources department, Ramesh Chandra Tripathy, said: “The blame game would not solve the issue. Had the officials not effectively monitored the release of water, things would have been different. But one new trend is seen that the backwater is not discharging as fast as it was used to. Government should act on the issue.”
He said though the flow of water was controlled using the Hirakud Reservoir system, the flood impact was still felt. Many former chief engineers have felt that rampant constructions on the natural flow and withdrawal of sand from the river bed have led to the flood situation.
Meanwhile, the state government is working on preparing a report on flood management comparing two floods that occurred in 2011 and 2022 in Mahanadi.
“We are working on compiling a report on the flood management plan and would submit it to the government,” said chief engineer of water resources department, Bijay Mishra, adding that water started receding in both the Mahanadi and Subarnarekha systems.
