Tripartite pact on ERCP ‘will spark development in Rajasthan’

The Bharatiya Janata Party claims that a memorandum of understanding for the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project will bring development.

The Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan has claimed that a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan governments for the ambitious Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) will herald a “new era” of development. A detailed project report (DPR) for the ERCP will be prepared under the pact.

The previous Congress regime had turned a demand for national project status for the ₹37,200-crore ERCP into a major election issue while accusing the BJP government at the Centre of ignoring the interests of people in 13 districts, which were set to benefit from it. The Congress alleged that the BJP had gone back on its promise.

In its original form, the ERCP was to be implemented along with the interlinking of Parvati, Kali Sindh and Chambal rivers. Since the Centre did not accept the demand for national project status, the Congress government started work with its resources, with the construction of the Navnera-Bisalpur-Isarda link, Mahalpur barrage and Ramgarh barrage at a cost of ₹9,600 crore.

The MoU signed in New Delhi on Sunday in the presence of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Chief Ministers Bhajan Lal Sharma and Mohan Yadav will incorporate the work done so far in the State. This will be the second project under the Centre’s national perspective plan of interlinking of rivers.

BJP State president C.P. Joshi said here that collaboration between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had become possible after the formation of the “double engine government”. The revamped Parvati-Kali Sindh-Chambal link project of the ERCP would be a cornerstone for development of both the States, with ample water for drinking and irrigation, Mr. Joshi said.

A total of 26 districts in both the States will benefit from the agreement and 25 lakh agriculturist families in 13 districts of Rajasthan will get access to irrigation water. The water will irrigate 2.80-lakh hectares of land, contributing to an increase in the ground water level.

Districts which will benefit from the project are Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Jaipur, Karauli, Alwar, Bharatpur, Dausa and Dholpur, where a population of 3.5 crore resides. The Congress government had sought national project status on the ground that the huge project cost could not be borne by the State alone.