Pawan Bansal discusses Yamuna river action plan in Delhi

New Delhi, July 19 (ANI): Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, presided over a meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board Committee here on Tuesday.

As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and National Capital Territory of Delhi on May 12, 1994, allocation of utilizable water among co-basin states, was decided by the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB), which was constituted by the Ministry of Water Resources as a subordinate office.

"There is a review committee, which signed a Memorandum of Understanding between members of Yamuna river basin states in 1994. Under that, we have the Upper Yamuna Board, where all issues are discussed. If there are any modalities in office, then their decisions are taken by the Yamuna board. The review committee consists of five Chief Ministers. We had a meeting about this after a really long time. All the states discussed their own issues and the solutions would be provided soon. We will make an effort to hold this meeting at least once in a year," said Bansal.

The Upper Yamuna Review Committee (UYRC) was also formed under the leadership of the Federal Minister of Water Resources and the Chief Minister of co-basin States as Members for looking into the working of the board. They were also responsible for the implementation of the MoU regarding allocation of surface flow of Yamuna and also to issue directions for the development and maintenance of the river.

"All states have decided to share their water, amongst themselves. There are also other facets that need to be discussed, but I will not discuss them here. There are a number of issues that need to be solved and that is going to happen very soon," said Bansal.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit asserted the need to control water pollution immediately. She said the density of population is rapidly increasing and the situation is going out of hand.

"As far as water pollution is concerned, we need to look into this matter. It is a very significant issue since the density of the population is rapidly increasing. Keeping this in view, we have spoken to interceptors and the talks are still underway. This will take three to four years. WE have also procured money from them. So, this would take some time," said Dikshit.

Recently, the heavy downpour in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh saw a significant rise in the water level of river Ganges, which led to disturbance in the religious activities along the banks of the river.

The water inundated places, which were meant for burning pyres. People faced immense trouble in cremating the dead bodies.(ANI)