Bihar, Jharkhand sign Sone water-sharing pact in presence of Shah

New Delhi, Aug 31 (PTI): Bihar and Jharkhand on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding to share 7.75 million acre-feet of water from the Sone River, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, “permanently resolving” the nearly 25-year-old water dispute between the two states, officials said.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Union Minister for Jal Shakti C R Patil, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, the Union home secretary, and senior officials from the central government and the two states were present at the signing ceremony.

In a post on X, Shah said the agreement would ensure adequate irrigation and drinking water for large populations in Bihar and Jharkhand.

“It will directly benefit lakhs of farmers in both states and give new momentum to the development of rural areas. If all states move forward as one team, there is no problem that cannot be resolved,” he said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Shah said the agreement to resolve the nearly 25-year-old water dispute exemplified how any problem could be solved through dialogue in the spirit of cooperative federalism.

He said issues concerning vast geographical areas, farmers, rural regions, and drinking water supplies in the two states have been “permanently resolved” with the agreement.

In 1973, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and undivided Bihar had entered into an agreement on sharing the waters of the Sone river and the cost of the Bansagar dam in Madhya Pradesh.

The dispute began in 2000 after Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar as a new state, officials said. Jharkhand demanded a larger share of water from the Bansagar project as a large chunk of its catchment area fell within the state, while Bihar relied on the 1973 agreement to stake its claim.

Shah said the agreement was the fourth water-related pact between states this year and would provide irrigation water to lakhs of farmers in large rural areas of Bihar and Jharkhand, besides drinking water to the people.

The minister termed the agreement an “excellent” example of ‘Team Bharat’ and cooperative federalism championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said states possess their own distinct identities, and if they move forward as ‘Team Bharat’ within the national context, there is no problem that cannot be resolved.

The home minister said the agreement would ensure the availability of adequate water for drinking and irrigation to a large population across the districts of Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Arwal, Gaya, and Patna in Bihar.

“Moreover, water would become available for irrigation and drinking purposes in the Palamu, Garhwa, and other regions of Jharkhand,” he said.

Soren and Choudhary expressed their gratitude to Modi and Shah for resolving the issue, an official statement said.

“On the initiative of Home Minister Amit Shah, long-pending water disputes between various states that had been unresolved for several decades are being resolved through the Inter-State Council; so far this year, four historic agreements have been reached,” it said.

On July 7, a historic agreement regarding the settlement of outstanding payments was signed among the ‘Narmada Award’ beneficiary states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh — in the presence of the Union home minister.

It provided a resolution to long-standing disputes among these states concerning cost-sharing for the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project, with the outstanding dues being resolved through a one-time settlement.

On June 29, Rajasthan and Haryana signed an agreement regarding the construction and implementation of the Yamuna Water Project, enabling Rajasthan to effectively utilise the water allocated to it under the 1994 agreement regarding the sharing of usable surface water in the Upper Yamuna Basin.

A consensus was also reached among the states concerned regarding the long-pending Kishau Multipurpose Dam Project during a meeting chaired by Shah on June 16.

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan agreed to a memorandum of understanding for the implementation of the Kishau Multipurpose Project. PTI ABS RHL

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