National Green Tribunal directed the Chhattisgarh Government to stop construction work of six water projects on Mahanadi River

Newdelhi:26/7/17 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday directed the Chhattisgarh Government to stop construction work of six water projects on Mahanadi River till further orders.

The tribunal’s halter on construction of water projects by Chhattisgarh came in response to a plea demanding halt on all construction activities on river Mahanadi to protect it by petitioner Sudarsan Das.

In a major setback for the neighboring state, the green court ordered for immediate stay of construction and clearly ordered it to stop six ‘A’ grade projects without its permission.

The ban has been imposed on construction of six projects on which the construction is yet to begin out of 57 projects, while work on 51 projects is under progress.

The petitioner, Sudarsan Das had alleged that Mahanadi is dying a slow death due to rampant constructions and unchecked pollution. The petitioner has alleged that Chhatisgarh have been constructing major and medium projects on Mahanadi without assessing its impact on water flow, ecology and bio diversity and pointed out that if mindless construction is not stopped, then its rich ecological diversity will be badly affected.

Due to the constructions of barrages and dams by the Chhattisgarh on the upper catchments of Mahanadi, water flow in the river has been seriously affected, the petitioner mentioned.

Notably, Odisha and Chhattisgarh are at loggerheads over the sharing of Mahanadi water since a longtime.