Amit Shah Leads Push For Kishau Project As Six States Sign Key Water Agreement

The Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana signed the Memorandum of Agreement for the Kishau multipurpose project on Tuesday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The meeting resulted in nearly 28 MoAs between the six states and the Centre.

Authorities have already executed separate agreements for the Renuka Ji and Lakhwar multipurpose projects, which are under construction, making Kishau the third project to receive a construction agreement.

Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, senior water resources officials and the participating states’ chief secretaries attended the meeting, which lasted around an hour.

The proposed project will, however, come up on the Tons River, a major tributary of the Yamuna flowing through Uttarakhand’s Dehradun district and Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district.

The project envisages a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam with 1,562 million cubic metres of live storage capacity. It is expected to irrigate approximately 0.97 lakh hectares of agricultural land and generate around 1,476 million units of electricity annually.

The stored water will support the Yamuna’s rejuvenation and meet drinking and industrial requirements, particularly in Delhi and Rajasthan.

Kishau Corporation Limited, a joint venture between the Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments, will implement the project.

Background of the Agreement

The six Upper Yamuna basin states had signed an MoU on May 12, 1994, to share utilisable surface water from the Yamuna up to Okhla Barrage.

The agreement called for storage projects to improve the utilisation of the river’s available water.

The latest agreement follows a June 16 meeting chaired by Amit Shah, when the participating states reached consensus on the long-pending Kishau project.

Under the agreed funding arrangement, the Centre will bear 90 per cent of the water component’s cost, while the six states will jointly meet the remaining 10 per cent.

The states agreed to transfer Himachal Pradesh’s water share to Delhi and Rajasthan in exchange for sharing the cost of Himachal Pradesh’s portion of the power component.

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