Question : TAJEWALA WATER TO RAJASTHAN

(a) whether as per the meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board held in 2001, Rajasthan is to get 3198 cusecs of water from the Tajewala head in Haryana;

(b) if so, the reasons for not taking any concrete action in this regard;

(c) whether the Central Water Commission had prepared an estimate of rupees 934.70 crores to meet the irrigation and drinking water requirement of Jhunjhunu and Churu districts of Rajasthan;

(d) if so, the reasons for not taking any concrete action thereon;

(e) whether certain terms and conditions were agreed upon in the 80th meeting of the consultative committee of the Ministry of Water Resources and if so, the details thereof;

(f) whether the information pertaining to compliance of the observations made by the said committee has not been provided by the State Governments; and

(g) if so, the action taken by the Union Government thereon?

THE MINISTER OF WATER RESOURCES (SHRI HARISH RAWAT)

(a) The Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) in its 22nd meeting held on 21.12.2001 allocated to Rajasthan for the period July to October, 1917 cusecs from Tajewala and 1281 cusecs from Okhla, aggregating to a total of 3198 cusecs for that period.

(b)Haryana and Rajasthan are not in agreement regarding Rajasthan’s request to deliver the waters allocated at Tajewala through the Western Yamuna Canal. Some of the works for carrying water to Rajasthan involve construction in the territory of Haryana which has not given its concurrence on Rajasthan’s proposals to carry its share from Tajewala and Okhla.

(c)Central Water Commission (CWC) did not prepare the said estimate. Government of Rajasthan prepared the project report for taking the Yamuna Water to Jhunjhunu and Churu Districts of Rajasthan.

(d)The report, submitted to CWC in 1998, was considered and accepted by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Ministry of Water Resources, in its 80th meeting held on 7.2.2003, for Rs. 934.70 crore. Further action depends on the State concerned.

(e)The TAC in its 80th meeting held on 7.2.2003 accepted the proposal subject to:

(i)Concurrence of Government of Haryana for the cost of Works to be carried out in their territory and taking up the construction in Haryana and Rajasthan simultaneously;

(ii)Concurrence of State Finance Department;

(iii)Monitoring of ground water level in the post irrigation stage and conjunctive utilization of surface and ground water in consultation with Central Ground Water Board (CGWB);

(iv)Confirmation of success in irrigation as well as drinking water supply on ten daily basis at source before taking up the construction of the project; and

(v)Environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.

(f)As informed by CWC, the compliance has not been reported to it.

(g)In the fourth meeting of Upper Yamuna Review Committee held in July 2011, Honourable Minister of Water Resources suggested to both the States to discuss and settle the issue in Rajasthan’s allocation made at Tajewala by the UYRB bilaterally at the earliest taking the help of CWC, if needed, to find out the most appropriate option for conveyance of Rajasthan’s share of water and they agreed to the suggestion.