Water Ministry to work on bringing water under Union list

New Delhi, Apr 27: Water Resources Ministry will start work on bringing the subject of Water in the Central List from the Concurrent List, government said in Rajya Sabha today after a suggestion in this regard was made by JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav.

"We discussed it in our ministry, but I did not form any committee on this as it is a sensitive issue. But now since Sharad Yadav has raised it, my ministry will start work on it (bringing Water under the Union list)," Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said.

She was replying to a suggestion by Yadav that Water should be brought under the Central list so that government is able to effectively tackle the issue of water scarcity.

Yadav said making Water a Central subject will help in conserving the crucial commodity and in effectively resolving the disputes related to rivers between states.

"Water has become a big issue of dispute today and if we do not take adequate steps to check it, time is not far that we will have a civil war inside the country over water," the JD(U) leader warned.

In December last year, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources had urged the Centre to initiate "earnest" efforts to build a national consensus for bringing water in the Concurrent List of Constitution so that a comprehensive plan can be prepared for water conservation.

The Panel said that water needs to be dealt within a consultative manner, taking into consideration the overall national perspective and given the fact that country will face acute water crisis in near future, especially ground water.

While water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments and storage fall in the State List, issues like development of inter-state rivers come under the Union List.

PTI