17 ) Meeting of Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (ILR
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Minutes of the Seventeenth (17th) Meeting of Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) held under the Chairmanship of Shri Rattan Lal Kataria, Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti on 26.02.2020 at New Delhi. The Seventeenth (17th) meeting of the Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (SCILR) was held on 26.02.2020 at New Delhi under Chairmanship of Shri Rattan Lal Kataria, Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti. The list of members and other officers who attended the meeting is at Annex-I Shri U P Singh, Secretary, DoWR,RD&GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti welcomed Shri Rattan Lal Kataria, Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti, and Members/ representatives from various Central Government and State Government Organisations who attended the meeting. He indicated that Special Committee for ILR has been constituted on the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to expedite the process of interlinking of Rivers projects and solicited meaningful deliberations among the participants. He then requested Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Chairman of the Meeting for his opening remarks. The Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti, extended warm welcome to all Members and participants from various Central Government and State Government Organisations and other Participants present in meeting of the Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers. Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti mentioned that the Interlinking of River as per National Perspective Plan was the dream project of our Late Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The main aim of this programme is to transfer water from surplus River Basins to deficit River basins for Irrigation, Drinking, Power generation, Flood control and addressing water requirement of Drought prone area. The Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti further mentioned that the Inter- state River linking projects are facing many challenges. Water sharing among the States, International issues of Himalayan components, Rehabilitation and Resettlement of project affected families and their Socio-economic reservations etc are the issues to be addressed for making Interlinking project a reality. In the leadership of Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon’ble Union Minister of Jal Shakti, National Water Development Agency and Ministry of Jal Shakti making 1 their best efforts for implementation of Interlinking Projects particularly four priority Interstate link projects. The DPRs of Ken-Betwa, Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada and Draft DPR of Godavari-Cauvery have been completed. DPRs of four Intrastate links have also been completed and preparation of DPRs of two intrastate links of Maharashtra State are in progress. Hon’ble Minister further indicated that Water is the most vital subject for all of us. Catering water requirement for drinking, Irrigation, Industry and other needs for the increasing population is the main challenges we are facing today. Cooperation of all stakeholders is necessary for implementation of Interlinking of River projects and it is our responsibility to make these projects a reality. He appealed all the stakeholders to come forward to complete ILR projects in National interest and for the water security of the country. Concluding his opening address, the Hon’ble Minister of State indicated that implementation of first ILR project i.e Ken-Betwa Link may become a reality soon with the cooperation and support of concerned States and other Institutions. He once again welcomed all participants for active participation and fruitful discussions in the meeting. Shri U P Singh, Secretary, DoWR,RD&GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti indicated that inspite of discussions on concept of Inter linking of Rivers since long time, desired progress towards implementation of ILR projects could not achieved. Implementation of such big water resources infrastructure projects normally take long time. Many Water Resources Projects in the country took decades to become reality. The main bottleneck in the implementation of ILR projects is to reach to the consensus on water sharing amongst the concerned States. The States having surplus water are not agreeable to the availability of surplus water. The issue of funding is yet another bottleneck as most of the states are insisting for 90 (Centre) : 10 (State) funding for ILR projects. Some of the existing Tribunal Awards for various river basins are also hurdle to ILR programme as these awards disallow transfer of water outside its basin boundary. Certain States are unable to utilize its allocated share of water due to Topographical constraints. He then introduced Shri Bhopal Singh, Director General NWDA and also the Member Secretary of the Special Committee for ILR who has recently assumed the charge and requested for taking up agenda items. 2 The Director General NWDA welcomed Hon’ble Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Chairman of the meeting; Secretary, DoWR, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti; Members; Special Invitees, experts and other participants of the meeting and took up agenda items for discussion. Item No.17.1: Confirmation of the minutes of the 16th meeting of the Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers held on 21.08.2019 at New Delhi The Director General, NWDA informed that the minutes of the 16th meeting of Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (SCILR) held on 21st August, 2019 at New Delhi were circulated to all the members vide letter dated 15.10.2019. Government of Tamil Nadu has sent their comments vide letter dated 03.02.2020 and the same were clarified by NWDA. Since no other comments have been received, the minutes as circulated were confirmed taking note of comments of Government of Tamil Nadu (Annex- 17.1.1) Item No.17.2: Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) in progress 1. Cauvery (Kattalai) – Vaigai – Gundar link (IBWT) The Director General, NWDA informed that the preparation of DPR of Cauvery (Kattalai) – Vaigai – Gundar link is in progress. He indicated that Under the Peninsular Component of National Perspective Plan, Mahanadi-Godavari- Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar linking scheme has been identified as the Nine link system. Cauvery (Kattalai)-Vaigai-Gundar link project is the last leg of the Nine link system. The Draft DPR for Cauvery (Kattalai)-Vaigai- Gundar link will be completed by March, 2020. 2. Bedti - Varada link (IBWT) The Director General, NWDA informed that NWDA initiated preparation of DPR of Bedti-Varada link as per the request and alternate proposed by Government of Karnataka and the same will be completed by March 2021. 3 3. Damanganga (Ekdare) – Godavari link (Intra-State) The Director General, NWDA informed that the preparation of DPR of Damanganga (Ekdare) – Godavari intra-State link of Maharashtra is in progress. The link project envisages transfer of surplus waters from west flowing Damanganga river to water deficit areas of Godavari basin to an extent of 143 Mm3. The water will be transferred to Vagad reservoir as proposed by Government of Maharashtra to meet the domestic, Irrigation and Industrial requirement of Nasik District. The DPR will be completed by June, 2021. 4. Damanganga-Vaitarna-Godavari link (Intra-State) The Director General, NWDA informed that the preparation of DPR of Damanganga-Vaitarna-Godavari intra-State link of Maharashtra is in progress. The project envisages diversion of 202 Mm3 of water from Damanganga and Vaitarna basins to Godavari basin. The DPR is scheduled to complete by June 2021. The information was noted by the Members of the Committee Item No.17.3: Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) completed / Feasibility Reports I. Ken-Betwa Link Project The Director General, NWDA informed that DPR of Ken-Betwa link project (Phase-I, II and its Comprehensive DPR) was completed by NWDA and circulated to party States and CWC. Draft MoA for implementation and water sharing of Ken-Betwa Link Project is under discussions with Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh States. Hon’ble Union Minister for Jal Shakti held a meeting on 25th February 2020 at Lucknow with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to discuss various issues involved in Ken-Betwa Link Project. Most of the Clearances for the Link project have already been obtained however Central Empowerment Committee (CEC) of Supreme Court has submitted its observations to the Hon’ble Supreme Court in August 2019. The Director General indicated that Landscape Management Plan as directed by National 4 Wild Life Board of MoEF&CC is under study by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and shall be completed by this year. The Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh indicated that the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh has received letter from Ministry of Jal Shakti for resolving water sharing issue with Uttar Pradesh and they have replied the same. The main issue is sharing of water in non-monsoon period. He further added that the Stage-I Forest Land diversion Clearance was accorded by MoEF&CC with the condition of identification of 6017 ha of revenue land by the Govt. of MP and its transfer to Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) authorities. The Government of Madhya Pradesh could identify only 4206 ha revenue land for transfer to Panna Tiger Reserve Authorities. For remaining areas of 1811 ha, he expressed that in lieu of this, afforestation in double the degraded forest land may be permitted. The Secretary (DoWR,RD&GR) told that a request has already been made to Secretary (MoEF & CC) in this regard vide letter dated 30th July, 2018. It is a normal practice to consider compensatory afforestation in double of the degraded forest land and this should be accepted by MoEF&CC. The representative of MoEF&CC has informed that NWDA has taken up the matter of relaxation of 1811 ha revenue land with MoEF&CC. He further mentioned that the MoEF&CC has requested Government of Madhya Pradesh to furnish compliance report to conditions made earlier.