Gujarat hardens stand on water sharing with Maharashtra

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat has demanded that Maharashtra agree to share more water from the Tapi if it wants more from the proposed Damanganga-Pinjal link which will supply Mumbai.
This decision comes in the wake of events in the Maharashtra assembly two days back when the House had to be adjourned after the opposition disrupted proceedings over the agreement with Gujarat over water sharing for Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada link projects.
B N Navalawala, advisor to Gujarat chief minister on water resources development and former secretary, water resources, central government, said that Gujarat is ready to share water from Damanganga and allow the development of Pinjal link.
"But this can be possible only if Maharashtra agrees to share equal quantity of water from the Tapi basin that falls in Maharashtra. There will be no compromise on this issue. It will be pure barter agreement," Navalawala said.
He further emphasized that Maharashtra first has to sign an agreement for this along with an assurance from the central government. "We have already informed the central government in writing," he said.
Incidentally, the draft report for the Damanganga-Pinjal link and the Par-Tapi-Narmada link projects are ready but work on neither project has begun so far.
Earlier, in 2010, the two states had signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for water sharing in the presence of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when Narendra Modi was Gujarat CM and Ashok Chavan was chief minister of Maharashtra.
Tapi has its source in Sahyadri (in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra). On the other hand, river Damanganga is in Gujarat but its surplus water is to be supplied to the proposed link to river Pinjal which flows in Maharashtra. The Damanganga-Pinjal link is vital for Maharashtra as only then will the state be able to meet Mumbai's water needs.
The Damanganga-Pinjal link envisages transfer, to the Pinjal reservoir, of surplus water from the Damanganga basin that would be available at the Bhugad and Khargihill dams. This transfer will augment the supply of water to Greater Mumbai. All the three reservoirs - Pinjal, Bhugad and Khargihill - will be connected by underground pipelines. The Pinjal reservoir is across river Pinjal in the Vaitarna basin from where water is supplied to Mumbai.
The Par-Tapi-Narmada link will benefit mainly Gujarat while the Damanganga- Pinjal link will help Maharashtra. The former envisages transfer of surplus waters from the west-flowing rivers north of Damanganga up to Tapi in north Gujarat. The scheme, though mainly located in southern Gujarat, will also cover some areas north of Mumbai on the Western Ghats in Maharashtra.