Lok Sabha Question No. 285 (STARRED), answered on 2018-03-15
Subject: Sharing of River Waters
Ministry: WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANAGA REJUVENATION
Asked by: Y. S. AVINASH REDDY, JANARDAN MISHRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *285

ANSWERED ON 15 . 03.2018

## SHARING OF RIVER WAT ERS

## *285. SHRI Y.S. AVINASH REDDY SHRI JANARDAN MISHRA

Will the Minister of WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  recently  convened  a  meeting  of  the  Irrigation  Ministe Southern States to resolve contentious disputes on sharing o f Krishna, Godavari and Cauvery river waters and push for inter - linking of rivers, if so, the details of discussions held/points ra representatives of various States on the issues;

(b) whether the issue of linking of Godavari and Cauvery rivers and related water disp States  were  discussed  therein,  if  so,  the  details  and  the  outcome  thereof  including  t arrived at the meeting along with the issues yet to be resolv ed;

(c) whether the issue of Polavaram Project was also raised by Andhra Pradesh and discus meeting and if so, the details and the outcome thereof; and

(d) the further steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to resolve the river r sharing disputes amongst States at the earliest?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION, ROAD TRANSPORT & HIGHWAYS AND SHIPPING

( SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GA DKARI )

(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. *285 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 15.03.2018REGARDING ' SHARING OF RIVER  WATERS '  ASKED  BY  SHRI  Y.S.  AVINASH  REDDY  &  SHRI  JANARDHAN MISHRA, MPs .

(a) & (b ) RegionalConference on Water Resources of Southern States viz Andhra Pradesh, Telan Karnataka,  Kerala,  Tamil  Nadu  and  UT  of  Puducherry  was  organised  on  20.02.2018  at  Hyde under the chairmanship of Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Water Resou rces, River Development  &  Ganga  Rejuvenation  (WR,  RD  &  GR).  The  Ministers  of  Telangana,  Kerala  a Puducherry and their officers along with officers of Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pr officers of MoWR, RD & GR, CWC, Central Ground Water Board a nd National Water Development Agency  (NWDA)  particip ated  in  the  conference.    These  S tates  have  raised  their  outstanding  wat resources and other issues of inter - State nature and the same were discussed during the conference.

As regards inter - linking of ri vers, out of the 16 links proposed under Peninsular Componen the  National  Perspective  Plan,  Mahanadi -Godavari - Krishna - Pennar - Cauvery - Vaigai - Gundar  linking scheme has been identified as the 'nine link system' which will benefit the Southern States. NWDA prepared  the  Feasibility  Report  of  these  link  proposals  in  the  year  2004/2005  and  circ concerned States. Mahanadi - Godavari  is  the  mother  link  of  this  system.  For  taking  up  the  D Project Report of Mahanadi - Godavari link, the consensus b uilding with concerned States is necessary.

In  the  Regional  Conference  at  Hyderabad,  alternative  studies  on  Mahanadi - Godavari  l nk project  to  divert  surplus  water  of  Godavari  river  to  Cauvery  river  through  Godavari  ( -Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link project was discussed.  The proposal consists of construction of a across Godavari river at Akinepalli in Telangana. The surplus Godavari waters available Akinepalli barrage is envisaged to be lifted by a height of 132m in 3 stages for transfer to existing Nagarjunasagar reservoir across Krishna. The length of the link between Akinep Nagarjunasagar is 341 km. From Nagarjunasagar, the length of the proposed link canal is 3 Somasila reservoir across Pennar. From Somasil a to Palar and Cauvery, the length of the canal is km.

(c) No issue on Polavaram Project was raised by Andhra Pradesh.

(d) In the Regional Conference on Water Resources of Southern States organised on 20.02 Hyderabad under the chairmanship of S hri Arjun Ram Meghwal, MoS (WR, RD & GR) it was decided that basin wise approach would be adopted to resolve the issues among the basin States by Basin - wise  Meeting.    It  was  also  decided  that  the  Regional  Conference  will  be  organized reg ions of the country to address outstanding water resources issues including inter - State issues.

Further, i n order to streamline the existing process of adjudication of inter - State  river  water disputes by way of amending the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, the Inter State River

Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister for WR, RD & GR  on  14.03.2017.  The  Bill  envisages  to  constitute a  standalone  Tribunal  with  permanent establishment and permanent office space and infrastructure so as to obviate with the nee separate Tribunal for each water dispute which is invariably a time - consuming process. The proposed amendments in t he Bill will speed up the adjudication of water disputes referred to it. T referred  to  Parliamentary  Standing  Committee  on  Water  Resources  for  examination.  The  S Committee  submitted  its  recommendation  on  the  Bill  vide  Lok  Sabha  Secretaria t  letter  dated 11.08.2017  in  the  form  of  'Nineteenth  Report  of  Standing  Committee  on  Water  Resources  on  The Inter -State  River  Water  Disputes  (Amendment)  Bill,  2017'.  Accordingly,  the  Ministry  has  prepared draft Cabinet Note for amendments to Inter - State R iver Water Disputes Act 1956 .

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