The 36th Annual General Meeting of National Water Development Agency (NWDA) Society and 20th Meeting of Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (SCILR) were held under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, on 13th December, 2022 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
The Union Minister for Jal Shakti, in his opening remarks informed that Water Resources is one of the most important sectors for Government of India and Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) Programme is very important for enhancing water and food security of the country and would be helpful in providing water to drought prone and rainfed farming areas.
Shri Shekhawat highlighted the remarkable achievement of initiation of implementation of Ken Betwa Link Project (1st ILR Project under National Perspective Plan) after obtaining approval of Government of India in December, 2021. The project would be a boon for Bundelkhand region and it is planned to be completed in period of 8 years.
During the meeting, a detailed presentation on the agenda items was made by Director General, NWDA. The status of various works and the pending issues/bottle necks/etc. for Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) projects, Annual Report & Audited Accounts for the year 2021-22 of NWDA and constitution of National Interlinking of Rivers Authority (NIRA) were discussed at length.
Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (SCILR) approved the proposal of considering the modified Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal (PKC) link project duly integrated with Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) as a part of National Perspective Plan of ILR and declare the Phase-I of the Project as a Priority interlinking project.
SCILR was also apprised of status of Cabinet Note for constitution of NIRA recently submitted to Union Cabinet for approval. The Note has been prepared on the basis of deliberations held during last meeting of SCILR, Task force and also suitably incorporating views of other Departments / Ministries.
The Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Bishweswar Tudu, Shri Govind M Karjol, Minister of Water Resources, Govt. of Karnataka and Shri Duraimuragan, Minister of Water Resources, Govt. of Tamil Nadu were also present in the meeting and Shri Tulsi Ram Silawat, Minister of Water Resources, Govt. of MP attended the meeting virtually.