The Hindu : Water policy silent on inter-State sharing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 02, 2002

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Water policy silent on inter-State sharing

By Gargi Parsai

The Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, flanked by the Minister for Water Resources, Arjun Charan Sethi (left), and the Minister of State for Water Resources, Bijoya Chakravarty, at the fifth meeting of the National Water Resources Council in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: V. Sudershan

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi April 1. Amid initial reservations by Punjab, the Fifth National Water Resources Council chaired by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, today adopted the National Water Policy, 2002, which is a revised and modified version of the earlier policy of 1987. The revised policy is silent on inter-State water sharing, which has been referred to the National Water Board for arriving at a consensus.

Suggestions made by several States during the four-hour long deliberations were incorporated in the revised policy which is a guideline for planned development and management of water resources at the national level. Mr. Vajpayee had to repeatedly assure States that the revised policy was not meant to infringe upon their rights — water being a State subject — and that the Centre shall only be a facilitator. "This is not the end but the beginning of a new era,'' he said in his concluding remarks.

States will now have to formulate their own State Water Policy backed by an operational Action Plan within two years. The State policy will have to take into account community participation and evolve its own detailed resettlement and rehabilitation policies for people displaced by dams.

The Union Ministry of Water Resources will prepare an Action Plan to support the States in the implementation of the policy.

With the passage of the Inter-State Water Disputes (Amendment) Act by Parliament, it will now be possible to settle the inter-State water disputes in a time-bound manner as the Tribunals have to give their final decision within a maximum of six years, Mr. Vajpayee said referring to the touchy subject of river water sharing.

Eight Chief Ministers attended the meeting, while the rest of the States were represented by the Ministers dealing with Irrigation/Water Resources.

None of the Chief Ministers from the South was present although all of them had conveyed their consent to the revised policy, after modifications.

The significant provision in the revised policy for basin States to set up River Basin Organisations (RBO) for planned development and management of a river basin had to be debated and deliberated upon till it was agreed that the RBOs thus constituted will not have any statutory powers and shall be advisory in nature.

Moreover, the modified policy leaves it to the States to decide the scope and powers of the RBOs.

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