: Water-starved Tamil Nadu, which has been fighting legal cases against Karnataka and Kerala in the Supreme Court to defend its rights over water, has opposed the draft National Water Framework Bill (NWFL) 2016. The Centre had written to all States citing the benefits of the proposed legislation and sought their support to it.
On Monday, Union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Kumar Balyan informed the Rajya Sabha that Tamil Nadu and Punjab have opposed the Bill.
Replying to a query by MP A.K. Selvaraj, Mr. Balyan said though the draft Bill was circulated to all the States and the Central Ministries concerned for obtaining their views, only a few States have responded so far. “States such as Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have agreed with certain amendments to the Bill, whereas, States such as Punjab and Tamil Nadu have not agreed to this Bill,” he said.
The Secretary of the Ministry, in a letter dated January 20 this year, had communicated the benefits of NWFL to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories and has sought their support for the Bill.
The draft Bill proposes to consider a river basin as the basic hydrological unit for planning, development and management of water. It also proposes that every basin States should take efforts to integrate the management of water with that of all natural, agricultural and human resources of a river basin.
A Committee constituted by the Ministry in 2015 suggested the draft National Water Framework Bill, 2016.
