The Centre has signed an agreement with Chief Ministers of five States — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh — to restart construction of the Renuka multipurpose dam project in the Upper Yamuna Basin.
The Renuka dam project has been conceived as a storage project on the Giri river (a tributary of the Yamuna) in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The project envisages making a 148-metre-high dam for supplying water to Delhi and other basin States. It will also generate 40 MW of power.
‘Enough water’
Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari said that there is enough water available in the country but the real issue is effective water management.
Terming the signing of agreement for Renuka dam project a “historic” moment, he said that the government will “try to get the Cabinet approval” as soon as possible.
After the construction of the dam, the flow of the Giri river will increase by about 110%, which will help meet the drinking water needs of Delhi and other basin States.
Water from the Renuka dam will be used by U.P., Haryana and National Capital Territory of Delhi from Hathnikund barrage, by the NCT of Delhi from Wazirabad barrage and by U.P., Haryana and Rajasthan from the Okhla barrage.
Plans to construct the Renuka dam started in 1976 but were aborted. At 2015 price levels, the total cost of the project is estimated to be ₹4,596.76 crore, of which the cost of irrigation/drinking water component is ₹4,325.43 crore and the cost of power component is ₹277.33 crore.
Around 90% of the cost of irrigation/drinking water component of the project i.e. ₹3,892.83 crore will be provided by the Central government and the remaining ₹432.54 crore by the rest of the basin States.
