MP signs MoU of Rs 75,000 cr with Centre, Rajasthan for canal project

A tripartite MoU for the revised Parvati-Kali Sindh-Chambal-Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) link project, worth Rs 75,000 crore, was signed between Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Centre on Sunday.

The MoU was signed in New Delhi in the presence of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and his Rajasthan counterpart Bhajan Lal Sharma, the MP government said in a release.

After the signing of the MoU, Yadav said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this project, which has been pending for almost two decades, will now take shape.

He said the project will benefit 13 districts of Chambal and Malwa region of MP.

Water availability will increase in the dry belt districts of the state like Morena, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Bhind and Sheopur and the industrialisation of industrial belt districts like Indore, Ujjain, Dhar, Agar-Malwa, Shajapur, Dewas and Rajgarh will get a further boost, he said.

Yadav said that the irrigation area of about 3 lakh hectares will increase in Malwa and Chambal regions of the state.

As a result, the religious and tourist centres of these areas will also develop, he said and added that this project will be a boon for western MP. The CM said that this project will be completed in less than 5 years and its current cost is around Rs 75,000 crore.

About 1.5 crore population of the state will benefit from this project, he said.

As per the release, this link project envisages providing irrigation in 5.6 lakh hectares in MP and Rajasthan as well as providing water for drinking and industrial use in 13 districts of Eastern Rajasthan and 13 districts of Malwa and Chambal region of MP.