NEW DELHI: There should not be any politics on water and state should rise above their outlook and work for a national perspective on water management in the country, Union Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Uma Bharti said.
“Water should not be on fire but should always be used to douse it,” she said. Inaugurating the fourth Jal Manthan, a national seminar on water related issues, here today, she said some state governments were afraid of taking an open stand keeping in view the national interest just because they fear of political opposition.
She said, “The onus is more on opposition than the government to amicably solve the water related issues in the country. I have decided that in future, whenever I meet any states government leaders on water related issues, I will also speak to the opposition there”.
Ms Bharti said that centre was always concerned about inter state disputes on water and tried to solve it amicably through persuasion. She appreciated political maturity shown by the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to resolve the water disputes and also urged other states to emulate the same.
Referring to the interlinking of rivers, the Minister urged officials of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh present in the seminar to amicably solve the pending issues related to Ken-Betwa link so that central government might go ahead with the Phase-I of the project at the earliest.
She informed that Maharashtra and Gujarat were cooperating with the centre to complete Par-Tapi and Daman Ganga-Pinjal link projects.
“Sometimes there is misconception about interlinking of river in some states because of lack of information. For example in Odisha a section of the people were opposing Mahanadi-Godavari link because there were thinking that entire water of Mahandi will be transferred to Godavari.
But when they were told that extra water of Tista and Sankosh will flow to Godavari through Mahanadi they were satisfied,” she said.
The Minister stressed that the centre would never deprive any states of its water resources.
She expressed the hope that deliberations in the seminar would be helpful for all stakeholders to formulate a good water resources management policy and suggest changes to improve the existing frame work.
Ministers of State Vijay Goel and Dr Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan also addressed the inaugural session. Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar and Water Resources Minister of Andhra Pradesh Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao were also present.
On the second day tomorrow, the discussions would focus on Inter-linking of rivers and its implementation among other issues. (AGENCIES)
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