Uma Bharti meets UP, MP CMs on Bansagar Dam issue

Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bhart met the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday to discuss the issue of supply of water to Uttar Pradesh from the Bansagar Dam in Madhya Pradesh.

The UP Government had communicated to the Chairman of Central Water Commission that suitable directions be issued to the Government of Madhya Pradesh to release 2000 cusecs of water from Bansagar Dam for two months into Sone River, against the due share of UP.

It had also suggested that due to the severe heat wave and scarcity of rains, an acute crisis of drinking and irrigation water has arisen in Sonbhadra and Mirzapur Districts of UP.

The MP Government has refused to release the desired water on grounds that since UP has not agreed to share the operation and maintenance expenses of the Bansagar Dam.

Reportedly, the UP Government has refuted this claim.

The Bansagar Dam agreement was reached between the two state governments and Bihar on September 16, 1973 for the sharing of the waters of the River Sone as well as the cost of maintaining and operating the dam. The dam is controlled by the Bansagar Control Board, which is a subordinate office of the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.