Madhya Pradesh refuses to release water for UP

The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday once again refused to supply water to Uttar Pradesh on the grounds that it has not agreed to share the operation and maintenance expenses of the Bansagar dam.

The government of Uttar Pradesh has demanded immediate release of 2,000 cusecs of water from Bansagar dam for two months into Sone river against its due share of one million acre-feet.

In a bid to resolve the dispute, union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti convened a meeting of the two states on Thursday, but it failed to break the stalemate.

"A meeting was held in 2013 over the issue in which representatives of MP, UP and Bihar participated. It was decided then that the three states will share the operation and maintenance expenses of the Bansagar dam. Bihar is receiving the water as it has shared the expenses, but UP didn't," statement from Madhya Pradesh government said.

"Six months ago, MP government asked UP to share the expenses but they didn't take interest. So, MP didn't even store their share of water," the statement said.

"No question arises of sharing water till they share the expenses," the statement said.

The dam, located in Madhya Pradesh, is controlled by Bansagar Control Board, which is a subordinate office of the union water resources ministry.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Minister Shivpal Yadav met Bharti and urged her to intervene in the matter. Bharti has promised to look into the matter, a statement from the ministry said.

The Bansagar dam agreement was reached between the two state governments and Bihar on September 16, 1973, for sharing the waters of the Sone river as well as the cost of maintaining and operating the dam.