Comments
Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan said on Wednesday that a high-level meeting would be held here soon to discuss and resolve the issues dogging the Nar-Par-Tapi-Narmada river-linking project.
Mahajan, who attended the eighth meeting of the special committee for interlinking of rivers in Delhi on Monday, also said that at the meeting, he stressed that excess water from the Nar-Par-Tapi-Narmada basin must not be allowed to go to Gujarat.
Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and the Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti chaired the meeting. “In the meeting, we discussed the hurdles in the project, which will pass through various States,” Mahajan said.
Dispute with Gujarat
“We have a dispute with Gujarat over the share of water from the Nar-Par-Tapi-Narmada basin. We do not want to let water of our share go to the neighbouring State,” he said.
He added that though Maharashtra is possessive over its share of water, it is not possible to lift water from the basin to a height of 600 to 800 metres and divert it to some other part of the State.
“The scheme is not viable and impossible to implement. Hence, instead, we are demanding an equal share of water from the Tapi river to Maharashtra from Gujarat. But, Gujarat is opposing the solution. This was raised in the meeting and Uma Bharti intervened in the issue,” he said.
Another meeting
He added that as per her instructions, a high-level meeting will be held in Mumbai.
“It was decided to meet on February 16, but it may be changed by a day or two as Uma Bharti has called a meeting in Bhopal on the same day. Union Secretaries along with officials from state water resource department will attend the meeting,” he said.
The proposed Par-Tapi-Narmada river interlinking project, aimed at diverting “surplus” water from parts of west flowing rivers like the Par, the Nar, the Ambika and the Auranga basins in Maharashtra, is set to become a major cause of conflict between Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Maharashtra has made it clear to Gujarat that it does not have “any water to spare”.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.