The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Inter-State water issues should be resolved amicably'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 04, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Inter-State water issues should be resolved amicably'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG.3. The inter-State water issues should be sorted out amicably in the interest of the nation, the Union Water Resources Minister, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, said here on Monday. He was inaugurating a two-day conference of Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries (Irrigation) and Command Area Authorities of States and Union Territories.

Although the Minister refused to be drawn into the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal controversy saying the matter was before the Supreme Court, he said the Government will undertake a comprehensive review of the report of the task force on river-linking and the 14 feasibility reports drawn up by the National Water Development Agency. ``There is no consensus on inter-linking of rivers. There are several aspects that need to be looked into such as economic, environmental and the rehabilitation of displaced populations. Nothing will be decided in a hurry. We will go by the Common Minimum Programme.''

Mr. Dasmunshi said by the end of this year he would hold consultations with water-deficit States on inter-basin and intra-basin proposals for transfer of waters. He had already held talks with Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Sikkim. Next year he will talk to water-surplus States.

On Andhra Pradesh's demand for release of Krishna waters from the Alamatti reservoir in Karnataka, Mr. Dasmunshi said although Karnataka was not legally bound to release water, he believed the State would release some water soon on humanitarian grounds. When the country was facing floods on the one hand and drought on the other, appropriate measures had to be taken to plan future utilisation of water resources. A task force was being set up to look into the problems of floods and bank erosion in the North-East.

Urging State Governments to effectively monitor the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, he said the last-mile projects are expected to be completed this year by restructuring the programme. ``As soon as you complete one project, we would be ready to offer you another,'' he said. Focusing on setting priorities for water resource management, the Minister of State for Water Resources, Jayaprakash Narain Yadav gave the example of Bihar, which faced floods and drought at the same time. An office was soon going to be opened in Nepal for preparation of Detailed Project Report for construction of a high dam in Nepal.

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