Tribunals alone can’t save dying rivers in India: Experts

The 2^nd Odisha River Conference organised on April 22 and 23 by Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) and Mahanadi River Waterkeeper, along with about 25 partner organisations, concluded with a strong message asking governments to recognise the Rivers’ Right to Life in line with that enjoyed by Indian citizens, and help them flow freely in healthy conditions.

The Conference also demanded that the governments help cater to the needs of riparian communities, maintain biodiversity and other priorities in a sustainable manner.

The Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) and Mahanadi River Waterkeeper organised the 2nd Odisha River Conference on the theme – Building an Inter-State Cooperation Framework for Management of Mahanadi River Basin – at Hotel Kaveri in Sambalpur on 22nd-23rd April, 2018. SixDegreesNews was a supporter of the conference.

Around 150 people from basin communities such as farmers and fisher folks participated in the programme along with civil society representatives, river and water experts and academicians from across the country.

Addressing the gathering, Ranjan Panda, convener of WIO said, “There has been a lot of politics and inter-state river water conflicts in the country. But in the process of fighting, let the rights of the river as an ecological entity is not snatched. While the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh is rife, it is unfortunate that both the states are treating Mahanadi as a commodity, not a natural resource.”

“No doubt Chhattisgarh has constructed many dams and barrages without the consent of Odisha and has obstructed a lot of water, but that does not mean we can conclude that Chhattisgarh has siphoned off water from Odisha’s share. We need a comprehensive understanding and analysis of the impacts all these structures will have on availability of water in the basin. Let the tribunal decide how to make such an analysis and instruct Chhattisgarh to stop these obstructions if they are found to be illegal. But, let’s not close the door of dialogue and cooperation between the two states on several issues that needs urgent attention. Barrages alone are not killing Mahanadi, there are many other factors that need urgent intervention,” Panda said.

He pointed out that “Our concern should be on how to rejuvenate the ecological entity of Mahanadi. The two states should come together to solve Mahanadi problem. Changes should be brought in the laws at the national level to establish the rights of communities over river and the river’s own rights.”

Riparian states must keep the door to peaceful dialogues open and work jointly for rejuvenation of the river basins in ecological approaches with participation of communities and their institutions such as the Gram Sabhas.” This is also relevant for Mahanadi, felt the Conference, urging upon Odisha and Chhattisgarh to start a regular dialogue process led by Chief Ministers of both the states.

The Conference welcomed the fact that Mahanadi dispute has already been referred to a Tribunal as because that is the only Constitutional mechanism available at the moment to resolve such disputes, and urged upon the Tribunal to order an immediate independent assessment of impacts all the dams and barrages are having on the water flow and ecology of the Mahanadi basin, and if needed, order removal of the structures that are found to have been illegally constructed or which are obstructing more water than the required volume of water that should be flowing downstream.

Looking into the way river basin disputes have been dealt with by the Tribunals under the existing law ‘Inter-State River Water Disputes Act 1956’ and the way states have responded to the Tribunal as well as Supreme Court decisions, the Conference felt that “Tribunals alone can’t save our ill-fated rivers and resolve the conflicts over them.

Understanding the fact that the Tribunal will follow its own course of proceedings that may take time, the states should not waste any further time in initiating a dialogue process, the Conference felt. It was also decided that a civil society led process to bring together communities from both the states will be initiated by the Conference participants to help solve the water dispute and save the Mahanadi from further decay.

Vice-Chancellor of Sambalpur University Prof Deepak Behera, who was the chief guest on the occasion, announced that a research project dedicated to Mahanadi will be initiated in the university. Prof Premanand Panda, who chaired the inaugural session, said while seeking a solution to the Mahanadi problem, we should not have an Orissa-centric approach but a river centric approach. He added that rights of a river can be established when people are empowered to use water judiciously. He maintained that water rights is a part of human rights because when a river dies a civilization dies with it. He explained the statement while drawing examples from across the world.

Among others, climate change expert Saroj Dash, civil society leaders Umashankar Sahu, Sneha Mishra and Prafulla Hota and senior  journalists Ashok Pradhan, Mehboob Mehtab and Bijay Mishra, emphacised on dialogues and cooperation framework for river conservation to ensure right of the communities and right of the river.

The two-day conference debated on issues like rights, governance, climate change, disasters, water security and pollution.

The Conference has also resolved to push for a ‘Rivers Rights Act’ at the national level that will not only give our rivers the right to survive with similar rights enjoyed by human beings, but also recognise rights of the basin communities such as farmers, fisher folks, forest communities and indigenous communities over water on first priority and ensure the role of Gram Sabhas in decision making with regard to conservation of our Rivers.

For more information on the WIO & Mahanadi River Waterkeeper; contact convener Ranjan Panda/ranjanpanda@gmail.com