Declaration of 'National Rivers' pending before the Cabinet : Soz

New Delhi, Sep 26 (UNI) A proposal to declare about a dozen rivers in the country as 'National Rivers' is pending before the Union Cabinet and may come up for a decision 'anytime', Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said here today.

Talking to newspersons after receiving dividend cheque of Rs 2.4 crore from Public Sector Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS), the minister said a note from the Water Resources Ministry was circulated to the Cabinet members.

The rivers will remain where they are but projects of national importance will be declared as national project on select rivers where the funding will be from the government.

Declining to give out more details on the mode of selection of national rivers, Prof Soz said 'consensus' among the states was the key and the whole thing would be under the existing Constitutional provision which recognised water as state subject.

Declaration of National rivers will be keenly watched by the country as the rivers have been a point of serious contention not just between the states but some rivers have international ramification. There were several inter-state disputes unsolved by the Tribunals and even Supreme Court for decades.

UNI