By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: With the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah taking impressive steps to resolve several age old issues and brining many issues into normalcy by bringing certain amendments in Constitution and framing new laws and rules, in a timely intervention, Union PNG-Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday reminded Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik about State’s bordering dispute with 4 neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and West Bengal, all non- BJP ruled States and urged the BJD Boss, to convey an all party meeting to resolve the issue.
.“I request you to convene an all-party meeting, with due participation and inputs from Odisha’s intelligentsia and civil society for discussing these border disputes with neighboring States. Keeping in mind the sensitivity of the issue, I would also urge you to seek the support of the Central Government in mediating a resolution between Odisha and her neighbouring states for boundary disputes,” Pradhan said.
Union Minister Pradhan also requested the Chief Minister Patnaik to form a House Committee in the Odisha Legislative Assembly comprising members from different parties for undertaking a detailed study of these issues and presenting their learned findings along with their recommendations. Pradhan swung into action after reports of severe border dispute came into four. The move of Dharmendra Pradhan has given a new hope to Utkal Sammilani, which has been demanding to resolve the issue since long.
“Drawing tensions along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border at Pottangi Block in Koraput District, Union Minister Pradhan said “ It is understood that the unilateral demarcation claiming certain portions of the Sunabeda Mouza under Sambai Panchayat and digging of a pond in the village of Talaganjei padar by officials of the Andhra Pradesh administration was found unacceptable to Odisha. The matter has now escalated to blockage of Pottangi-Araku road by villagers on the Andhra Pradesh side. This comes a few months after a dispute along the Odisha-West Bengal border in Jaleswar Block of Balasore District due to unilateral sand mining by West Bengal on the Subarnarekha river bed,”.
“14 out of Odisha’s 30 districts share borders with Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Odisha has a long history of border and water disputes with all these neighboring States owing to historical, cartographic and geological reasons. Dispute over a clear delineation of land overshadows the on-ground issues faced by the people inhabiting it. Taking a holistic view of the situation, it is important to shed light on the developmental issues and infrastructural challenges affecting the people living on both sides of the border such as providing connectivity and infrastructure in remote areas, ensuring implementation of key developmental programmes and jointly tackling the threat from Left Wing Extremism,” he wrote.
It would seem wise to arrive at an effective and comprehensive resolution of Odisha’s ongoing and long standing border disputes with all its neighboring States, like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, through bilateral discussions between States. In the spirit of cooperative federalism and brotherhood between States, I believe Odisha should take the lead in initiating these discussions, Pradhan said.However, it must be ensured that socio-economic interest of the people of Odisha is not compromised in any way and if necessary, the State should also consider legal remedies for resolution of these disputes, he added.
