Sambalpur, Apr 27: Ahead of the simultaneous elections to the Odisha Assembly and Lok Sabha, the Sambalpur district unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday unveiled a ‘charge sheet’ against the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government accusing it of shedding "crocodile tears" over Mahanadi issue.

In a press meet here, senior BJP leader Pramod Rath said," In 2018, Odisha government had announced to construct at least seven barrages in the downstream of the Mahanadi river, but not a single barrage was constructed yet."

"The Mahanadi river water is not fit for drinking or even bathing purposes according to the pollution control board. Huge quantities of untreated sewage and biomedical wastes are still being discharged directly into the river," he alleged.

Due to the negligence of the nearly 25-year-old BJD government in the state, the Mahanadi river water is getting drained into the sea without any productive use.

The BJP leader alleged that the ruling party is doing politics by calling the Mahanadi river as "Maa" (mother) but it always treats the river as a step-mother.

He slammed the Naveen Patnaik government accusing it of misleading people on Mahanadi river water row with Chhattisgarh instead of taking any positive steps to resolve the issue.

The BJD leaders visited Chhattisgarh and made false statements to mislead the people on the issue, the BJP alleged.

The dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over Mahanadi river water is now pending before a tribunal.

Notably, the voting for the 147-member Odisha Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State will be held in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The results will be announced on June 4.

Read More: Odisha News