Nepal’s Sharda river may revive Yamuna

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 12

With interlinking of rivers (ILR) project high on its agenda, the Narendra Modi government is working on a new water-sharing arrangement to "revive the ailing Yamuna and benefit Upper Yamuna river basin states" — Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, who said today that the first three ILR links (Ken-Betwa, Daman Ganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada links) would start showing results on ground in “seven years if all goes well”, also talked of the plan to create a link between the Yamuna and Sharda rivers.

The basin states of Sharda include Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in India and Nepal.

The aim of this new link, which was first hinted when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Nepal, is to bring surplus water from Sharda on the Indo-Nepal border to Yamuna via Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The Prime Minister had discussed its feasibility along with the revival of the stalled 5,600 MW Pancheshwar multipurpose project with his Nepalese counterpart Sushil Koirala during his visit in August.

The minister said revival of Pancheshwar project had created the hope for creating the link to revive water-starved Yamuna and in turn cater to the needs of the people in the region.

Along with it, work on the long-delayed dams on Renuka in Himachal Pradesh and Lakhwar Vyasi and Kishau in Uttrakhand were also in a “advanced stage of approval”, she added.