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Journalism of Courage
AMONG THE central issues of the Congress’s campaign in Rajasthan is the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), via which the incumbent Ashok Gehlot government is hoping to repeat its 2018 performance in Eastern Rajasthan. Of the 83 Assembly seats in the region’s 13 districts, the Congress won 49, while the BJP obtained 25 seats.
While the project was announced during the previous BJP regime, under Vasundhara Raje, little work was done then owing to its high costs.
Since July, the Gehlot government has raised the pitch on it, and has been pushing for a national project status for the ERCP, including writing several letters to the Central government.
At one of his first rallies in Rajasthan, on October 16, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge too raised the ERCP, saying that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had done nothing for the project despite “promises”, the Gehlot government had allotted Rs 25,000 crore for it.
Why is ERCP important
The ERCP aims to ensure water for drinking and irrigation in 13 districts of the state, by harvesting surplus water available during the rains in rivers in southern Rajasthan such as Chambal and its tributaries Kunnu, Parvati, and Kalisindh. The 13 districts expected to benefit are Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Jaipur, Karauli, Alwar, Bharatpur, Dausa, and Dholpur.
According to the state Water Resources Department, Rajasthan, the largest state of India with a geographical area of 342.52 lakh hectares, which amounts to 10.4% of the entire country, holds only 1.16% of India’s surface water and 1.72% of groundwater.
Among the state’s water bodies, only the Chambal river basin has surplus water, but this water cannot be tapped directly because the area around the Kota barrage is designated as a crocodile sanctuary.
Through the help of diversion structures, interbasin water transfers, linking channels and construction of pumping main feeder channels, the ERCP aims to create a network of water channels which will cover 23.67% of Rajasthan’s area along with 41.13% of its population.
Central govt role
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on July 24, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu said ERCP could not be considered for funding under the national projects scheme, saying it “is planned on 50% dependable yield against the established norm of 75%… Thus, ERCP does not fulfill the criteria laid down for inclusion under the National Projects scheme of this Ministry.”
However, he added that the special committee for interlinking of rivers had, in December, 2022 approved a proposal to consider integrating the modified Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal (PKC) link project with the ERCP, as part of a National Perspective Plan, and declared Phase-I of the project as priority.
He said two meetings were held on the matter.
