Bhubaneswar: The Mahanadi River Water Disputes Tribunal is beginning its ten-day field survey in Odisha from Jharsuguda on Friday, according to officials.
The members of the tribunal, led by Justice A M Khanwilkar, are scheduled to visit at least 30 locations during the survey in Odisha.
As per reports, Tribunal members will reach Jharsuguda this evening and will hold discussions with Chhattisgarh’s Engineer-in-Chief, technical team and other top officials at Ashok Nivas at Burla.
The team of the tribunal will undertake the visit to Odisha from May 20 to 28 in two phases. Technical teams from the two states will assist the members during their field survey.
The team will visit the Hirakud water reservoir in Sambalpur and Burla Powerhouse. The team will also study the Brahmani River linking and Mega lift irrigation projects on Saturday.
Similarly, the team will visit Chiplima powerhouse, Hurakud command area, and Bargarh canal on the following day.
The tribunal team is also likely to survey the proposed water reservoir over the Ib River.
Officials in Odisha are of the view that industrial barrages in Chhattisgarh including Kamla are responsible for considerable decline in the flow of water in Odisha side of Mahanadi river during non-monsoon seasons.
The state government also contends that the water storage in the dams constructed by Chhattisgarh also affected the flow of water in Mahanadi river.
After completing the field visits, the tribunal will prepare the common information format after which its work will be expedited.
