The Orissa government on Saturday claimed that agriculture will remain unaffected due to supply of water to upcoming industries like Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) [part of Vedanta Resources], Posco and others from the Mahanadi river system. The claim was based on the report of a four-member technical committee...which studied possible impact on agriculture in the event of supply of water to industries...Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik...asked officials to ensure that people living on both sides of river Mahanadi did not face a drinking water problem due to supply of water to industries. Official sources said that in face of criticism from different quarters on possible water scarcity, the state government had set up the technical committee in July.