Bhubaneswar, Oct. 7 -- Blocking the natural course of rivers and preventing them from meeting the sea could trigger a serious ecological crisis, warned Sudarshan Das, Convenor of the Mahanadi Bachao Andolan (Save Mahanadi Movement).

Speaking at the first session of the discussion on "The Need for a Sustainable River Basin Management" during the three-day Earth Again Conference organised by Sambad Group in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, Das stressed the urgent need to protect and manage river basins systematically.

He said that even 2,500 years ago, Greek philosophers had described rivers as "a flow," symbolising life and continuity. In 2017, the New Zealand Parliament recognised the country's second-largest river as a living entity, acknowledg...