Rajasthan seeks national project status for flagship canal
The East Rajasthan Canal Project proposes to provide drinking water to 13 districts of Rajasthan and provide irrigation water for 2.8 lakh hectares of land through 26 different large and medium projects.
The Rajasthan government has reiterated its demand of national project status to the state’s ambitious East Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) to help bring down the cost.
The ERCP proposes to provide drinking water to 13 districts of Rajasthan and provide irrigation water for 2.8 lakh hectares of land through 26 different large and medium projects.
In a recent letter to Jal Shakti Ministry, the Water Resources department of Rajasthan pointed out that the status of National Project has been given to 16 projects in other states, but no project in Rajasthan has been given this status. In the project with national project status the funding pattern is 90:10 but in ERCP it is 60% by the Centre and 40% by the state, said a senior department official.
The Rs 37,247 crore, ERCP proposes drinking water to 13 districts of Rajasthan and provide irrigation water for 2.8 lakh hectares of land through 26 different large and medium projects. Under the project the surplus water in the sub basins of Kunnu, Kul, Parvati, Kalisindh and Mej rivers received during monsoon has to be carried to the sub basin of Banas, Morel, Banganga, Gambhir and Parbati rivers.
The project would ensure availability of sufficient water for drinking and irrigation will be ensured till the year 2051 in Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Jaipur, Dausa, Karauli, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts.
The demand of giving the ERCP status of National Project had earlier been raised by the previous government of Vaundhara Raje.
In February, chief minister Ashok Gehlot had written to Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat urging national project status for ERCP.
Gehlot had also raised this issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting of NITI Aayog in June last year. He reminded Modi about his promise made during a public meeting in Rajasthan and urged to give an early approval to ERCP as a National Project.
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