NEW DELHI: Bihar and Jharkhand are set to sign an agreement formalizing the sharing of Soni river waters, ending a dispute that has remained unresolved since Jharkhand’s separation from Bihar in 2000, and the Union government is now working on setting a date for the signing ceremony.
According to a senior official in the Jal Shakti Union Ministry, the agreement could be signed “any day now” after the two states complete their internal approvals. “The signing could come any day now as matters have been resolved from both parties. Jharkhand passed the matter in its cabinet earlier this month. Our papers are also ready and all we have to do is get everyone’s time so that it can be signed,” said the official, requesting anonymity.
An office memo seen by HT and issued by the Jal Shakti Ministry on July 14 said that both Bihar and Jharkhand had conveyed their formal consent to implement the agreement and proposed to sign it in August in the presence of the Jal Shakti Union Minister and the chief ministers of the two states. The ministry said that the date, time and location will be announced separately.
The agreement settles the division of previously undivided Bihar’s allotments under the Bansgarh Agreement of 1973. Of the total 7.75 million acre-feet of Soni River water originally allocated to Bihar, 5.75 million acre-feet will now go to Bihar and the remaining 2.0 million acre-feet to Jharkhand. This allocation comes after a unanimous recommendation from a committee formed by the Center headed by the Central Water Committee to resolve this long-awaited issue.
The Bansagar Agreement, signed in 1973 between Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and then undivided Bihar, governs the sharing of the waters of the Soni River. While the agreement continued after the Jharkhand Agreement in November 2000, the division of Bihar’s share between the two successor states remained unresolved for nearly 25 years.
The ministry’s memorandum states that a committee constituted by the Centre, including representatives of the two state governments, unanimously recommended the 5.75 MAF-2.0 MAF formula, after which a draft agreement was circulated to the two states for approval.
WNext hat?
The Center will now turn its attention to resolving another long-pending river dispute between the states, the official said. “The Mahanadi river dispute is next. Both Chhattisgarh and Odisha have approached the government to find a solution,” the official said.
The Mahanadi dispute centers on disagreements between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over water sharing and construction of upstream projects, an issue that has been pending before the court for several years. The official did not clarify what form the center’s intervention would take or provide a timetable for the start of the talks.
