Dear Friends/Co-sailors,
As the floods recede and real toll comes to be noticed, the time has come to keep up the tempo of discussing the issues related to flood management in specific and river basin management in general. We at Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) kept a constant watch on the flood and the way the state and other people and institutions responded to it and found that there is a big vacuum that exists in the current system of managing floods in the state.
In fact, WIO raised this issue from the day one when the man-made devastation took place in Mahanadi caused by higher reservoir levels kept at Hirakud without any proper justification given to the people. Thankfully, other civil society groups, political parties and others took it up further and a healthy debate has already started in the state about the need for a proper flood management system to be in place. WIO has participated in several debates after that and even leaders from the ruling political party have admitted what we had said from the beginning; that the flood could have been moderated and that there is a need to revisit the Rule Curves and other management systems.
In the mean while, we have visited many flood affected places and everywhere people have felt that there is need for a change and this cannot be delayed further. People and experts have been calling us for continuing this debate and WIO is committed to this already.
We would like to inform you that the first organised debate on this has already taken place on 2nd October when I was invited as the Chief Speaker to speak on "Mahanadi waters" in the 19th Birth Anniversary of the weekly "Janatara Bandhu" at Brajarajnagar at Jharsuguda district. I took the opportunity to discuss the current floods and previous floods in Mahanadi and other rivers of the state and suggested that there is an urgent need for co-ordinated action between riparian states involving people, representatives, departmental officials, technicians and civil society for putting a proper flood and river basin management system in place.
The hundreds of people who gathered at the occasion agreed to this idea and the local people and organisations have vowed to take it further to the villages. In fact, Shri Kishor Mohanty, Rajya Sabha MP from Jharsuguda and Shri Anup Sai, MLA from Brajarajnagar, who participated as the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively, too agreed to this and they have assured us that they will take up these debates with their parties and people in their constituencies.
A debate at the grassroots has thus begun. We all need to take it up at our level and join hands for a co-ordinated action.
Look forward to your support to Water Initiatives Odisha in this effort.
Thanks and regards,
Ranjan Panda
Convenor, WIO
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Water Initiatives Odisha: Fighting water woes, combating climate change... more than two decades now!
R-3/A-4, J. M. Colony, Budharaja
Sambalpur 768 004, Odisha, INDIA
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Kiss the rain when you can, because water and abundance are falling apart...(Ranjan Panda)
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Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) is a state level coalition of civil society organisations, farmers, academia, media and other concerned, which has been working on water, environment and climate change issues in the state for more than two decades now.
