The Congress government in Rajasthan has once again raised the issue of granting the national project status to the proposed Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), which will transfer excess waters from the Chambal river basin to 13 districts facing water scarcity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to declare the ERCP a national project during his rallies before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
At a pre-Budget meeting of Finance Ministers in New Delhi, State Urban Development Minister Shanti Dhariwal said on Wednesday that the ERCP was a significant project for supplying drinking and irrigation water to vast sections of the population. “Its construction should be started as early as possible in view of difficult geographical conditions of Rajasthan,” he said.
The previous Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State had also lobbied for the Centre’s approval for the ambitious project with an estimated budget of ₹40,000 crore as a major initiative for interlinking of rivers.
The Central Water Commission has already given in-principle approval to the project’s feasibility report, while the Union Ministry of Water Resources had reportedly finalised a Cabinet note on it last year. Besides supplying drinking water in 13 districts, the mega project will also provide water for irrigation to an additional 2 lakh hectares.
Niti Aayog meeting
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had also raised the issue at the 5th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog in June this year, while affirming that the national project status to ERCP would facilitate solution to the water scarcity issue in eastern and south-eastern districts of the State at least till 2051. It will also supply water to the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.
