Union Minister for Jal Shakthi Rattan Lal Kataria stressed the Interlinking of Rivers Programme is very important for enhancing water and food security of the country and would be very helpful in providing water to water scarce, drought prone and rain-fed farming areas. Minister said this ILR project is the vision, dream and very dear to late PM Vajpayee personally.
During the 34th Annual General Meeting of the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) Society and 18th Meeting of the Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (SCILR) through video conference, Minister confirmed that the Government of India is committed for Implementation of ILR Programme with consensus and co-operation of the concerned State Governments. Minister briefed the progress made by the department in major projects of inter-linking of inter-state and intra-state rivers.
Minister demands the cooperation and assistance of all members especially the concerned State Governments for the successful implementation of Interlinking of Rivers Programme. Minister informed that Rs 4900 clearance was got by the ministry over the Bihar’s Seemanchal region's Kosi - Mechi link project. The project will relieve large swathes of North Bihar from Menace of floods but also provide irrigation for a whopping over 2.14 lac hectares of command area.
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