Question : Sharing of River Waters

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

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

(c) whether the issue of Polavaram Project was also raised by Andhra Pradesh and discussed in the 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 water sharing disputes amongst States at the earliest?

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

(SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)


(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 15.03.2018 REGARDING “SHARING OF RIVER WATERS” ASKED BY SHRI Y.S. AVINASH REDDY & SHRI JANARDHAN MISHRA, MPs.
(a) & (b) Regional Conference on Water Resources of Southern States viz Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and UT of Puducherry was organised on 20.02.2018 at Hyderabad under the chairmanship of Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (WR, RD & GR). The Ministers of Telangana, Kerala and Puducherry and their officers along with officers of Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and officers of MoWR, RD & GR, CWC, Central Ground Water Board and National Water Development Agency (NWDA) participated in the conference. These States have raised their outstanding water resources and other issues of inter-State nature and the same were discussed during the conference.
As regards inter-linking of rivers, out of the 16 links proposed under Peninsular Component of 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 circulated to the concerned States. Mahanadi-Godavari is the mother link of this system. For taking up the Detailed Project Report of Mahanadi-Godavari link, the consensus building with concerned States is necessary.
In the Regional Conference at Hyderabad, alternative studies on Mahanadi-Godavari link project to divert surplus water of Godavari river to Cauvery river through Godavari (Akinepalli)-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link project was discussed. The proposal consists of construction of a barrage across Godavari river at Akinepalli in Telangana. The surplus Godavari waters available at proposed 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 Akinepalli and Nagarjunasagar is 341 km. From Nagarjunasagar, the length of the proposed link canal is 393 km upto Somasila reservoir across Pennar. From Somasila to Palar and Cauvery, the length of the canal is 529 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 20.02.2018 at Hyderabad under the chairmanship of Shri 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 convening Basin-wise Meeting. It was also decided that the Regional Conference will be organized in other regions of the country to address outstanding water resources issues including inter-State issues.
Further, in 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 need to set up a separate Tribunal for each water dispute which is invariably a time-consuming process. The proposed amendments in the Bill will speed up the adjudication of water disputes referred to it. The Bill was referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources for examination. The Standing Committee submitted its recommendation on the Bill vide Lok Sabha Secretariat 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 River Water Disputes Act 1956.


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