Bhubaneswar: After a five-decade-long battle, Orissa on Monday succeeded in getting the consent of Andhra Pradesh for acquiring 50 per cent share from Machkund hydro- electric project, official sources here said.

At present, Orissa gets 30 per cent share from Machkund project and now the state would get the rest 20 per cent following the consent given by Andhra Pradesh, they said.

The issue, which has been continuing for the last 50 years, was resolved at a meeting between Orissa's Energy Minister S N Patro and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Sabir Ali Ahmed in Hyderabad, they said.

The payment for the remaining 20 per cent share would be decided by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), sources said adding both the states would file petition for this before the CEA, whose decision would be binding upon them.

Secondly, the Machkund hydro electric project would be expanded and renovated and its cost would be equally borne by both the states. While the generated energy would be shared equally, there would be equal number of employees from both the states for the project, the sources said.

As per today's decision, both the states would sign in the proceeding in the meeting and obtain the consent of respective chief ministers for the above decision, a release from Orissa energy minister's office said. An agreement would be signed by the two states here on these issues next month, it said.