First Meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Mahanadi Inter-State water dispute held today

Bhubaneswar, 2025 : The first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Mahanadi interstate water issues was held today at Rajiv Bhawan, Department of Water Resources, under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Shri K.V. Singh Deo, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister.

The said meeting was attended by Hon’ble Ministers Shri Suresh Pujari, Shri Prithviraj Harichandan and Shri Sampad Chandra Swain; Hon’ble MLAs Shri Saroj Kumar Pradhan, Shri Niranjan Pujari and Ms. Sofia Firdous. Hon’ble MLA, Shri Jayanarayan Mishra, participated in the meeting virtually. The Chief Secretary Shri Manoj Ahuja and the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary Smt. Anu Garg to Govt. along with the concerned officers and engineers of DoWR were also present in the meeting to give necessary inputs to the Committee.

During the meeting, preliminary discussions were held on the Hirakud Project, the historical background of the Mahanadi water dispute, the current status of proceedings before the Hon’ble Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal, the process of amicable settlement of Mahanadi-related issues, and the overall status of matters pertaining to the Mahanadi basin.

It was decided that the next meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee shall be convened in January 2026 to further consolidate the position of the State of Odisha and to advance the process towards an amicable settlement of the Mahanadi water issues.

Team Maverick