Gehlot to Centre: Push Haryana to release water share of Rajasthan - Hindustan Times
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Gehlot to Centre: Push Haryana to release water share of Rajasthan

Hindustan Times, Jaipur | ByHT Correspondent, Jaipur
Jan 12, 2019 03:50 PM IST

CM raises issue during MoU signing for Renukaji Dam Project. He said the Haryana government has been denying Rajasthan its rightful share of Yamuna water for past 24 years.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has requested the centre to intervene in the matter of inter-state agreement for distribution of Yamuna water and ensure that Haryana releases the allocated share of water for Rajasthan from Tajewala headworks.

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari speaks to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat look on during the signing of Renukaji Lake multipurpose project at an event.(PTI)
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari speaks to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat look on during the signing of Renukaji Lake multipurpose project at an event.(PTI)

He said the Haryana government has been denying Rajasthan its rightful share of Yamuna water for past 24 years. As a result, a huge population in Churu, Jhunjhunun and Sikar districts was not getting water for drinking and irrigation, he said. Similarly, the state was not getting its allocated share of water for Bharatpur district from Okhala headworks.

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Gehlot raised the issue in New Delhi on Friday during a ceremony, in which six states signed an MoU for Renukaji Multipurpose Dam Project. Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari was also present on the occasion.

Gehlot said as per the 1994 MoU signed among five states, Rajasthan was incessantly in talks with the Haryana government since 2003 to sign an agreement for the release of its allocated share of water from Tajewala headworks. Time has come the government of neighbouring state should be directed to agree to this MoU, so that Rajasthan could get its rightful share of Yamuna water, he added.

Gehlot said that Rajasthan was not getting its rightful water share even from the Okhala headworks for Bharatpur district. As per the record, the state got only 40% of its water share from the Okhala headworks during the past 17 years, he said and requested the centre government to direct the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments to stop illegal use of water in their respective regions and release the water share of Rajasthan.

Gehlot told Gadkari that objections raised on the ambitious Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) by the Madhya Pradesh government were wrong. He said the project was proposed as per the agreements signed between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in 1999 and 2005. Besides providing drinking water, this project would make irrigation water available for 2 lakh hectare land in 13 districts of Rajasthan, he said, demanding that the unjust demand of Madhya Pradesh should be rejected.

Talking about the Incentivisation Scheme for Bridging Irrigation Gap (ISBIG), Gehlot said that seven centre-sponsored projects run under the Command Area Development & Water Management (CADWM) in Rajasthan had been shelved since April 2017. New ISBIG project was proposed against the shelved projects, but the centre has not issued any guidelines yet, he said. As a result, the state farmers have not received any irrigation benefit under the scheme, he added. He said approval of funds worth 6,193 crore for irrigation of command areas measuring 6,83,656 hectare and 3,05,862 hectare under the newly-proposed eight schemes was pending with the central government. He said that the centre should immediately approve the pending funds, so that the farmers in different districts of Rajasthan could benefit from the schemes.

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