Second press release from Water Initiatives Orissa on the myth of Surplus Water in Orissa

• WIO demands the Government of Orissa to come out with a White Paper on water first and then decide on new allocations.
• No new industries should be allowed to draw water unless this White Paper prepared and made public.
• That Orissa is a ‘Surplus Water’ state is a ‘myth’.

Sambalpur, 11th August 2010 -  The decision of the State High Level Clearance Committee to give away water to new industries and for expansion of existing industries comes to us as a shock, especially because the Government of Orissa has been maintaining uncomfortable silence over the actual availability of water and the exact amount of extraction already being done by existing industries.  We have been demanding the government to come out with a White Paper on it. (Please see our press release of 5th August which is pasted below) But it is shying away because the reality is different than what it shows.

The figures given by the state in justification of the Great Water Sale to industries are not only old but also about allocations only.  There is no data from where one can know as to how much water is being extracted by these industries at the moment.  How can then the government go on with allocating to new industries and expansion plans of industries?  The water availability in the state has reduced by about 75% in six decades.  With the increased industrialization it will reach to a critical level just in one or two more decades.  This will make Orissa further poor and agriculture will be the worst sufferer making aggravated food insecurity, large scale distressed out-migration and massive deprivation of the poor people common features in the state of Orissa in the coming years.

Therefore, we once again demand the Government of Orissa to first come out with a White Paper on the exact water availability in the state that must clearly detail the extractions on date by all sectors in an order of priority listed in the State Water Policy; present and future demand and supply projections for all sectors; plans for providing 100 per cent drinking water and irrigation coverage; and safeguard measures in the changed climatic conditions to ensure that the priorities of the Policy are respected, maintained and sustained.   Unless that is done, debated in public and in the state assembly, no further allocations to industries be allowed.

We also demand that the current allocation by the High Level Clearance Committee be put on hold till then.  

Contact Details:
Ranjan K Panda (Convener),
Water Initiatives Orissa
C/O: Manav Adhikar Seva Samiti (MASS) Dhanupali,
Sambalpur 768 004 Orissa, INDIA
Email: ranjanpanda@gmail.com, waterinitiativesorissa@gmail.com
Phone: +91-663-2540043 / 2540067
Mobile : +91-9437050103