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The Centre has signed an MoU with six Chief Ministers for the construction of the Renukaji multipurpose dam project in the Upper Yamuna Basin.
Union Minister for Water Resources and River Development Nitin Gadkari signed the pact with Yogi Aditynath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Trivendra Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand), Manohar Lal (Haryana), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi) and Jairam Thakur (Himachal Pradesh).
Clean Ganga mission
Another agreement was signed for Namami Gange projects in Prayagraj (Allahabad) under the Hybrid Annuity Mode and One-City-One-Operator concept by the National Mission for Clean Ganga, the UP Jal Nigam, and Dilip Pormal of Prayagraj Water Pvt Ltd.
Addressing the gathering, Gadkari said there is enough water available in the country, but the real issue is its effective management.
“We have done one thing. Of the river waters awarded to India under the Indus Waters Treaty, (some portion of) our share still goes to Pa kistan. The first thing we did was to arrest the (excess) water and we will take it to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan and Delhi,” he said.
Under the Indus Waters Treaty, waters flowing in three of Indus tributaries — the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi — have been allotted to India; while the Chenab, the Jhelum and the Indus waters have been allotted to Pakistan.
Of the total 168 million acre-feet, India’s share of water from the three allotted rivers is 33 million acre-feet, which constitutes nearly 20 per cent. India uses 93-94 per cent of its share under the Indus Waters Treaty. The rest of the water remains unutilised and goes to Pakistan.
3 projects
After the Uri attack in 2016, it was decided to fast track water projects to arrest the unutilised water.
The three projects to arrest this water from going to Pakistan include the Shahpur Kandi dam project, a second Sutlej-Beas link in Punjab, and the Ujh Dam project in Jammu and Kashmir.
An agreement has been signed on one project and there is a progress in other two projects, Gadkari said.
Terming the signing of agreement for Renukaji dam project a historic moment, Gadkari said the government would try to get the Cabinet approval as soon as possible.
He added that a consensus on Kishau multi-purpose project on the Yamuna river has also been developed and soon an agreement for it will also be signed.
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