A lifeline for 26 parched districts in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh

The idea of diverting water from surplus basins to parched ones was simple and brilliant. However, the PKC ERC project remained stalled for five years

By clearing the path for the Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal (PKC) Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERC), stalled due to politics between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the recently-elected BJP government has found a potential game-changer in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections — and also quenched the thirst of 26 water-scarce districts, 13 each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

**EDS: IMAGE VIA @gssjodhpur** Jaipur: Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat with Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav during signing of an MoU on the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (PTI Photo)(PTI01_29_2024_000047B) (PTI)

The ambitious PKC-ERC project will bring water to 26 districts, 13 each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and provide water for drinking and irrigation to hundreds of thousands of people for the next 40 years.

Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the Centre will bear 90% of the cost ( ₹75,000 crore) and the two states will have to give ₹3750 crore for the project. “The project will prove a boon for both the states. It will take care of drinking water needs in the two states for the next 3-4 decades. It will provide water for irrigation for 2.8 lakh hectare land in both states and also help in recharging the water table which will create a positive change in the area," he said.

In Rajasthan, Jaipur, Alwar, Dausa, Ajmer, Tonk, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Kota, Bundi, Jhalawar and Baran will benefit.

In Madhya Pradesh, the districts of Morena, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Bhind, Sheopur, Indore, Ujjain, Dhar, Agar-Malwa, Shajapur, Dewas and Rajgarh will benefit from this.

The project envisages intra-basin transfer of water within the Chambal basin by utilising surplus monsoon water available in Kalisindh, Parvati, Mej and Chakan sub-basins — all tributaries of the Chambal in Rajasthan — and diverting it into water deficit sub-basins of Banas, Gambhiri, Banganga and Parvati rivers in eastern Rajasthan.

During the assembly election last year, the Congress party brought up the ERC as an election issue, hitting out at the BJP and PM Narendra Modi for reneging on its promise to declare the ERC a national project. Some farmer groups and NGOs also sought to draw attention to the issue in the run-up to the assembly election.

In its manifesto launched ahead of the 2023 assembly election, the BJP promised time-bound completion of the ERC project.

Rajasthan chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma and Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Delhi on the ERC project, in the presence of Union minister Shekhawat on January 28.

Sharma returned to a grand welcome earlier this week with state BJP chief CP Joshi and a large number of party workers garlanding him — the state unit lost no time to cash in on the political dividends of resolving a longstanding issue.

“The BJP had promised that the double engine government will speed up development and the BJP government is delivering on its promises. This project will benefit 2 lakh farmers in 13 districts and provide water for irrigation and drinking. The BJP has done what it promised, so people trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee,” Joshi said.

Political analysts said that by expediting the project, the party is trying to make an impact on at least nine of the 25 Lok Sabha seats of the state, including Jaipur, Ajmer, Bharatpur, Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Kota and Jhalawar.

“By clearing the way for implementation of the project, the BJP will play up the issue by telling people it has delivered on its promise and one more guarantee given by prime minister Narendra Modi has been fulfilled,” said political commentator Mithelesh Jaimini.

Shekhawat said that the Jal Shakti department had met hydrology experts from around the country as well as engineers from Rajasthan and MP to decide on the feasibility of linking the ERC to the Parvati, Kalisindh Chambal project. In December 2022, the special committee for the interlinking of rivers approved a proposal to consider the modified PKC link project integrated with ERC, as a part of the National Perspective Plan. The plan was prepared by the Union ministry in 1980 for inter-basin transfer of water from water surplus basins to water deficit basins.

As per the modified DPR signed by the two states, the project is now known as the PKC-ERC project and, as part of the National Perspective Plan, 90% of the funding will be provided by the Centre.

Impact

For the residents, it’s better late than never. Over 200,000 farmers will get water to irrigate their land and 40% of the state’s population will get drinking water. The project will also provide irrigation facilities for 280,000 hectares of land, filling 32 dams across the 13 districts.

“In many places of eastern Rajasthan, the water table has fallen to 700 feet. The dams are empty and farms are lying dry. Farmers are dependent on the monsoon,” said Indal Singh, an activist based in Bharatpur, who said the ERC project should be rolled out without further delay.

If excess water is diverted to dams and rivers in the area, this will increase the water table. “This will recharge wells which are lying dry and provide drinking water,” Singh, convenor of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, said.

The organisation has been agitating since 2007 for a water project. By making irrigation water available to farmers, this will revive farming in the area.

The project will improve water availability in Chambal especially Sheopur where the groundwater level has decreased severely. “The distribution of proper water will improve the life of the residents of Chambal. Here, heavy rainfall creates havoc and less rainfall creates acute water shortage. There are about 80 villages in the area which are facing water issues. This project shouldn’t have taken such a long time,” said RS Parmar, a social activist from Chambal.

Political ping pong

The matter was first touted in 2017 and launched by former BJP chief minister Vasundhara Raje to provide drinking water and augment irrigation facilities in eastern Rajasthan. However, the project got stalled because the DPR submitted by Rajasthan in November 2017 for appraisal to the Central Water Commission (CWC) was planned on a 50% dependable yield against the established norm of 75% dependability.

In 2018, after the Congress came to power, the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot sought a national project status for the ERCP which would entail 90% funding from the Centre.

For years, the project remained in cold storage. Caught in the blame game between the BJP at the Centre and the previous Congress government in Rajasthan, the ERCP failed to make any progress.

Following the approval of the special committee for Interlinking of Rivers in 2022, a draft pre-feasibility report of the modified PKC link project and a draft MoU for preparing the detailed project report (DPR) was sent to the state water commission and CWC in January 2023. In February of that year, the framework for initiating the work on the preparation of the DPR of modified PKC link was finalised.

On December 27, 2023, Shekhawat held a meeting in Delhi with officials of the water resources departments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to try and resolve hurdles between the two states. The two states agreed to work on an amended DPR for the project, as envisioned by the Centre.

Shekhawat claimed that Gehlot used the project as a political tool and the previous Congress government was not serious about implementing the project.

However, the Congress has cause to accuse the BJP of using the ERCP as a tool to gain political mileage in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully raised the issue in the House and said the state government has signed an MoU on the ERCP at a time when the House is in session. He said the state government should give information on this issue in the House.

MP chief minister Mohan Yadav said, “This project will not only end water woes but also eradicate poverty through improved irrigation.”

State Congress president Jitu Patwari welcomed the move but said that the BJP had made a habit of blaming the Congress party for every problem. “The BJP has been in power before 2023, so why did the BJP-led state government not take any action? BJP shouldn’t make every issue a political one.”