Haryana urges Centre for creating water storage reservoirs

New Delhi, July 25 (UNI) Haryana Irrigation and Revenue Minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav met the Union Minister of Water Resources Saif-ud-Din Soz and Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde here today and apprised them of the urgent need for creating storage reservoirs in the Yamuna Valley to store surplus water in the monsoon period.

In the meeting, the Minister told them that this water would be utilised to meet the demand of drinking water, irrigation and power in the Yamuna basin States.

He informed that at present a lot of water goes waste during the Monsoon Season in river Yamuna as no dam had been constructed on it so far.

Captain Yadav informed them that the work on Lakhwar Dam Project on river Yamuna in Uttrakhand was stopped in 1992 and arbitration proceedings were going on since then without any further progress.

''The work on Kishau Dam Project on river Tons has also not been started so far and clearances from Central Electricity Authority, Central Water Commission, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Ministry of Tribal Affairs are yet to be obtained'', he added.

He said Haryana was ready to bear the cost of these projects in proportion to its share in river Yamuna as per the MoU of May 12, 1994 among the partner States.

He requested the Union Water Resources Minister to convene a meeting of upper Yamuna Review Committee under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to expedite the construction of these two projects. He also suggested that a board for construction and maintenance of these projects on river Yamuna should be constituted on the pattern of BBMB.

Captain Yadav also raised the issue of pollution being received in the Mewat region of Haryana through river Yamuna from Delhi with Mr Soz and requested him to take up the matter with the Government of NCT of Delhi so that water of requisite quality is only discharged into river Yamuna from the various sewege drains of Delhi.

He informed that due to pollution in Delhi stretch of Yamuna, Haryana had submitted a project for construction of Mewat Canal to supply clean drinking water to the people of Mewat region costing to Rs 326 crore with Central Water Commission for its approval.

UNI