Water Resources Ministry calls meeting of Bansagar Control

In the view of the Uttar Pradesh government seeking the Centre's intervention to direct Madhya Pradesh to release water from Bansagar Dam, the Union Water Resources Ministry has called a meeting of Bansagar Control Board (BCB).
Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti has directed her Ministry officials to call a meeting of Bansagar Control Board (BCB) soon, an official statement said.
The Uttar Pradesh government, in a recent communication sent to the Chairman of Central Water Commission, has requested that suitable directions may be issued to the Madhya Pradesh government to release 2,000 cusecs of water from Bansagar Dam for two months into Sone river against the due share of Uttar Pradesh.

Due to severe hot weather and scarcity of rains, an acute crisis of drinking and irrigation water had arisen in the districts of Sonbhadra and Mirzapur, the Uttar Pradesh government had said in its communication.
Local bandhis and ponds are dry and water table has dropped to an alarming level. The Sone pump canal, too, is not running as the minimum water level (164.612M) in Sone river required to run the pump is not available at present, the statement said.
The Madhya Pradesh government has denied to release the said amount of water to Uttar Pradesh as it had not agreed to share the operation and maintenance expenses of Bansagar Dam. Hence, Madhya Pradesh did not store the due share of water for Uttar Pradesh in the dam, it said.

BCB is a subordinate office of the Union Ministry of Water Resources in which Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and Irrigation Minister of Madhya Pradesh are members.