Allegations are being made that the Odisha government is not showing an interest in the materialization of the river-linking project to connect the Mahanadi and the Rushikulya rivers of the State.
Linking of these rivers is also part of the greater river- linking proposal ‘Mahanadi-Godavari Networking Scheme’.
Activists of Rushikulya Bachao Manch (RBM), leaders of the BJP, including former deputy speaker of Odisha Assembly Ram Chandra Panda urged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to personally review the matter so that the Mahanadi and the Rushikulya of Odisha could be linked in the first phase.
“The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has already submitted a report regarding the proposed ‘Mahanadi-Rushikulya river linking project’ to Odisha government about a decade ago. But the State government is yet to take any concrete decision regarding it,” said Mr Panda.
Recently the water resources department of the State government declared that it will respond to the Central government after studying the report.
Vice-president of RBM Govind Das said it is an irony that the State government is yet to study the report of the NWDA although it was with the Odisha government for the past several years. Leaders of the BJP in Odisha have continued to support the demand of the RBM to link the Mahanadi and the Rushikulya.
As per the survey report of ‘Mahanadi-Godavari Networking Scheme’, a 224-km canal will connect the Mahanadi with the Rushikulya in Odisha. From the Rushikulya river, a canal will connect with the Godavari river. This canal is proposed to start from Barmul point on the Mahanadi and will meet the Rushikulya at Kavisuryanagar in Ganjam district.
According to the RBM, except druing monsoons, the Rushikulya remains dry most of the months. The Mahanadi experiences floods.
“The link canal between these two rivers will reduce floods in the Mahanadi basin and curb the drought-like situation in Rushikulya basin. The fear that water of Odisha would be taken away to southern States without being used in Odisha is fallacy,” said Mr Panda.
He added that this river linking project for two major rivers of Odisha would have minimum submergence and it would benefit farmers of Nayagarh, Khurda and Ganjam districts.
Therefore
‘River linking project would benefit farmers of Nayagarh, Khurda and Ganjam districts’.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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