Mahanadi row: BJD team to visit Chhatisgarh

Bhubaneswar, August 5: Amid the Mahanadi water sharing dispute with Chhatisgarh, ruling BJD in Odisha today set up a 12-member team to visit project construction sites in the upper catchment of the river in the neighbouring state.

The team is headed by BJD Vice-President and Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya and include ministers Debi Prasad Mishra, Pradip Kumar Amat and Sanjay Dasburma.

BJD leaders Mangala Kissan, Kishore Mohanty, Padmanav Behera, Rohit Pujari, Sushant Singh, Pratap Keshari Deb, Pramilla Mallick and Raseswari Panigrahi are also part of the team.

It will visit the project construction sites in Chhatishgarh on August 7 and August 8 and consult a team of technical experts former water resource chief engineer Sarat Mohanty, Sreedhar Behera and Ramesh Rath.

The team will hold discussions with the project officials concerned and submit a report to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, a BJD statement said.

PTI