Question : BARRAGE ON GANGA

(a) whether the Government has conducted any study to construct barrages at the distance of 200-300 km on the river Ganga for providing irrigation facility locally to the available fertile land;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the National Green Tribunal has issued a notice seeking compensation for loss of biodiversity and livelihood of fishermen due to excessive withdrawal of water from Ganga river by the Farakka Barrage Project; and

(d) if so, the details thereof and the action thereon?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (PROF. SANWAR LAL JAT)

(a)to(b) The primary responsibility is of respective State Governments to plan and implement water resources projects, inclu- ding barrages, as per their requirement and priorities. The role of Central Gove- rnment is limited to being promotional and catalytic in nature, and also provi- ding central assistance under ongoing schemes to identified projects.

(c)&(d) Yes. The original application number 03/2015 has been filed by Shri Bijay Krishna Sarkar and Others before the National Green Tribunal, New Delhi. In this matter, the applicants have claimed compensation of the order of Rs. 13101 crores per year on pretext of damaging the environment by different water resources/hydel power projects of India. Out of this amount, Rs. 3326 crores per year has been claimed from Farakka Barrage Project. Matter is under consideration of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal.