In a major relief to the Telangana government, the AK Bajaj Committee has dismissed any changes in the water sharing ratio of the Krishna river from what was decided by the Bachawat Tribunal in 1973. The union water resources ministry in 2016 had appointed the committee to hear the arguments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh pertaining to the river water sharing. During the meet, the Telangana government demanded a fair share of water from Polavaram and Pattiseema projects and mentioned the need of 450 tmcft of Krishna water, instead of 299 tmcft, which was earmarked for the state at the time of bifurcation.
The National Green Tribunal has ordered a CBI probe against the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam for alleged irregularities in the cleaning up of the Ganga river. It has been found that the officials have taken up the construction of a sewage treatment plant (STP) worth Rs 31.82 crore on the Garh drain in Garhmukteshwar without any field work, inspection or analysing the effluents and discharge. However, the Jal Nigam has passed the blame on the civic body of Garhmukteshwar and claimed that the latter did not take measures to connect the local drains to the major one routed towards the STP.
The government has taken up the exercise to assess the 5.4 crore landless casual labour to see if they have access to the job cards from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The aim behind the move is to identify the regions where there is greater concentration of landless labour which is nearly 30 percent of the total surveyed population as per the data of Socio and Economic Caste Census (SECC). Along with this, the government is planning to renew the existing job cards for adding the details of the beneficiary in order to put a check on the use of bogus job cards under the scheme.
The cabinet has given an in-principle approval for implementing the long-pending Mekedatu multipurpose project for utilising the Cauvery river water. The project, worth Rs 5,912 crore, is a balancing reservoir with 66.50 tmcft capacity that will be built across the river near Mekedatu in Ramanagaram district. This reservoir will supply drinking water to Bengaluru and nearby towns. Despite receiving stiff opposition from the Tamil Nadu government, the cabinet has approved the project. However, the proposal still awaits a nod from the Cauvery supervisory committee and the Central Water Commission.
The farmers in the state have been facing hardships due to demonetisation. The state government, however, has acquired three lakh acres of agriculture land under its irrigation programme to ensure there is no shortage of water supply for the cultivation of rabi and boro crops. Along with this, the state government has also received the World Bank’s approval for desilting the lower Damodar river and its channels which will help in controlling flood in parts of Howrah, Hooghly, Bankura and Burdwan districts.
This is a roundup of important policy matters from February 14 - 20, 2017. Also, read the news this week.