Express News Service By

BHUBANESWAR: After maintaining silence over the issue for a long time, the state government today said it will finalise its stand on the tripartite meeting at New Delhi proposed by the Centre on the Mahanadi river water dispute within a couple of days.

This was announced here today by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. "The government will finalise its stand on the Mahanadi river water dispute within a day or two," the chief minister told mediapersons here.

After the BJD launched an agitation against construction of dams and barrages by Chhattisgarh government over river Mahanadi at headquarters of 15 districts in July, the issue remains unresolved as tug of war between both the states continued.

Even though the Centre proposed a joint control board (JCB) between the two states after chief secretary talks at New Delhi on July 29, the idea was dropped after the Odisha government did not respond on the grounds that a discussion at this forum cannot resolve the issue.

Though both the states agreed to exchange information on the issue on the issue, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have blamed each other for not responding to the queries.

The Odisha government had sought complete information from Chhattisgarh on its construction activities on Mahanadi river. Though Chhattisgarh has provided information on Arpa-Bhaisajhar project, it has remained silent on other construction activities.

Official sources said that the chief minister will review the situation at a high level meeting in a day or two before taking a stand whether to attend the tripartite meeting proposed by union water resources minister Uma Bharti.

Bharti had proposed a tripartite meeting to be attended by chief ministers of both the states after a delegation BJP leaders from Odisha headed by union Dharmendra Pradhan met her at New Delhi and requested to resolve the issue.

The Union Minister had announced that the tripartite meeting will be held between September 10 and 20. However, the state government is yet respond to a letter from the Centre to suggest dates for the tripartite meeting at New Delhi.