No proposal to transfer water to concurrent list: Jal Shakti Min

The minister also rejected the claim by a Trinamool Congress MP that Teesta barrage dam is not being completed due to lack of funds by the Centre, saying the West Bengal government has expressed its inability to acquire land for the project which was stalling its progress.

The minister was responding to calling attention motion by K V P Ramachandra Rao (Congress) on the need for completion of National Irrigation Projects to tackle emerging water crisis and to transfer 'Water' to Concurrent list from state list.

Shekhawat said at present there is no proposal to transfer water from the state list to the concurrent list.

It has been repeatedly stated that water should remain a state subject and Centre can intervene for resolving inter state water disputes, said the minister.

As per the current situation, there is no need to create an alternative arrangement to create ripples, as stated by the Puncchi commission, he added.

Water is the right of states, and it is asserted by members during debates in Parliament but when it comes to bearing responsibility, right from cleaning rivers to construction of dams, they want Jal Shakti Ministry to take the lead, said the minister.

He said the primary responsibility lies with the states as water is their resource.

Referring to remarks by M Nadimul Haque (Trinamool Congress), Shekhawat said he claimed that Teesta barrage dam is not being completed due to lack of funds by the Centre, but in reality the West Bengal state government has expressed its inability to acquire land for the project and therefore it has not been completed.

"It is very easy to put the blame on the Centre for your own faults," said the minister, in an apparent reference to the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal.

Referring to the Polavaram irrigation project, he said the initial cost estimated in 2014 was to the tune of around Rs 16,000 crore to be borne by the Centre but cost escalation owing to Land Acquisition Act and passage of time led to the project's cost rising to over Rs 55,500 crore.

He said the state government should work in a more proactive manner on the Polavaram project, and Centre was willing to cooperate with it on the same.

Claiming that Digvijaya Singh (Congress) raised doubts on the Jal Jeevan Mission which entails providing water to 15 crore households, the minister said the government will certainly be able to fulfil the announcement made earlier by Prime Minister Modi and ensure supply of drinking water to every household in the country.

In August, Prime Minister Modi had said the government will launch a Jal Jeevan Mission to bring piped water to households and resolved to spend more than Rs 3.5 lakh crore in the coming years.

On suggestions by a member to emulate Israel's model in India for water conservation, he said the situation in Israel was different as compared to India, as the amount of rainfall received by both nations varies significantly.

Referring to the NITI Aayog's Composite Water Index Report which states that 21 major cities will run out of groundwater by 2020, the minister observed that perhaps there has been a hurry at some level while drafting the report leading to this conclusion.

He said 15 out of these 21 cities have dual sources of water including surface and water.

Shekhawat said Rs 30,000 crore has been spent by the Centre towards preventing surface runoff of water in the last five years alone, through NREGA.

Referring to water coming from Nepal, he said regular deliberations were being held with Nepal on international rivers and setting up on Pancheshwar dam.

A solution may be arrived at soon in this direction, he said.