BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Sunday reiterated its demand to constitute a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh.Chief minister Naveen Patnaik , who attended the inter-state council meeting in New Delhi chaired by Union home minister Rajnath Singh, also demanded to stop all ongoing construction activities in Mahanadi basin in Chhattisgarh for protecting the livelihood of the people of Odisha.Earlier, the state government had rejected the Centre's proposal for a negotiation to resolve the deadlock between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.Naveen also urged upon the Union Government to discontinue the Polavaram project by the Andhra Pradesh government as Odisha has claimed that the project would submerge a large area in Malkangiri district."Unfortunately, the Union government has declared Polavaram as a national project and assigned the task of taking decision on contentious issues between two states to a functionary of Polavaram project. I urge upon the council to adopt principles of fair play and federal polity and discontinue the Polavaram project," Naveen said.Odisha also demanded Central share of fund at par with the North Eastern and Himalayan states as Odisha has a high percentage of population below the poverty line (BPL) and belonging to scheduled tribe and scheduled caste communities. Over 32 per cent people in Odisha belong to the BPL category."The demand is in line with the Punchhi Commission recommendation for higher central transfers to backward states for improving their physical and human infrastructure," he said.Naveen objected to the decisions of the GST council to use the proceeds of the clean environment cess for GST compensation fund, meant for all states. "It is clearly a disadvantageous to coal bearing states like Odisha which have to bear the huge burden of environmental degeneration and the cost of rehabilitation. I demand to earmark 60 per cent of the clean environment cess for the coal bearing states," he said.The chief minister also highlighted the low telecom connectivity including lower bandwidth, low financial inclusion and a lower bank credit. He said 28 per cent of the villages in Odisha do not have any mobile coverage and 70 per cent of gram panchayats in Odisha do not have any bank branch.To enhance connectivity in Maoist-hit areas, Naveen demanded adequate funding for the Malkangiri-Jeypore and Nabarangapur-Jeypore rail projects. The state government has already announced to provide land free of cost and to bear fund partly for these projects.On the recommendations of Punchhi commission on Centre-state relations, Naveen Odisha fully supports the recommendations of the commission aimed at strengthening the autonomy of the states including defining the role of Governor.Stating that the left wing extremism menace is a national challenge and biggest internal security threats, Naveen said demand of the Centre to the states for reimbursing the cost on account of deployment of central forces is totally unjustified.

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