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White paper on water storage sought

BHUBANESWAR: Orissa Development Group, a forum thriving on the World Wide Web, has urged Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to release a white paper on the issue of reallocation of water from reservoirs and the status of water redistribution in the State as a whole.

In a letter to Mr. Patnaik, the Forum said a white paper on water was necessary in the wake of the farmer’s unrest in the State’s western region opposing water allocation to industries from Hirakud reservoir.

The Forum said there was no convincing answer from the government so far on reallocation of water for industrial use from the existing dams and reservoirs, and those in power had seen this most important issue very causally.

The Forum wanted to know from the white paper whether the State Government had analysed the current reality of water flow/capacity at various reservoirs and made any attempt in comparing it with the demands for industry and farming.

“It seems that poor ground and home work at bureaucratic level on these technical issues are making everything more complex,” the Forum said.

The government should mention in the white paper about the water situation of Hirakud reservoir during the whole year and availability of water to the farmers at the fag end of the canals in the Hirakud command area, the Forum said.

The group also wanted to know from the government whether it had been decided to allow the Sterlite group to extract bauxite from the Gandhamardhan hill and use water from Hirakud through underground pipelines.

Observing that agriculture had been given a backseat in the State with the government adopting a pro- industry approach, the Forum demanded that the white paper should be released within two months to make the position clear on the controversy over water allocation for industries.

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