New Delhi: With a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government back in power in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) that had been hanging in the air since 2017, finally got a green signal Sunday.
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh governments signed an MoU with the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti for the implementation of the “Modified PKC-ERCP” (integration of the original Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal (PKC) link with Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project).
This is the second project under the Government of India’s national perspective plan of the interlinking of rivers (ILR) programme.
Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma and MP CM Mohan Yadav also held a joint press conference on the scheme Sunday.
While Sharma said that ERCP will provide relief from water problems in areas such as Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Dholpur, Bharatpur, Dausa, Alwar, Jaipur, Ajmer and Tonk districts of Rajasthan, Yadav claimed that the project will meet the industrial needs of drinking water in many districts, including Shivpuri, Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Indore and Dewas.
“Modi’s guarantee means guarantee poori hone ki guarantee [guarantee of fulfilling guarantee]... Boon for Eastern Rajasthan. I can’t define in words the blessings, affection and affection showered by thousands of my dear family members of Rajasthan at the airport on arrival in Pink City Jaipur after the historic success of ERCP,” Sharma posted on the social media platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) along with a hashtag campaign #rajasthanThanks4ERCP.
मोदी की गारंटी मतलब गारंटी पूरा होने की गारंटी…
पूर्वी राजस्थान के लिए वरदान ERCP की ऐतिहासिक सफ़लता के पश्चात गुलाबी नगरी जयपुर आगमन पर एयरपोर्ट पर हजारों की संख्या में राजस्थान के मेरे प्रिय परिवारजनों द्वारा बरसाये आशीष, स्नेह व अपनत्व को शब्दों से परिभाषित नहीं किया जा… pic.twitter.com/f1PjrEcI4S
— Bhajanlal Sharma (@BhajanlalBjp) January 29, 2024
A number of state BJP leaders and ministers also thanked PM Modi for fulfilling the “long-standing demand” of the state.
According to a senior BJP leader in Rajasthan, the signing of the MoU will give them “direct” benefits in 13 districts, as the party looks to capitalise on the issue of ERCP on nine Lok Sabha seats under these districts.
The issue of ERCP in Rajasthan has been making headlines for the past few years. In 2017, the then chief minister Vasundhara Raje had prepared the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project and sent it to the central government to solve the water problem in 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan.
Explaining the scheme, the BJP leader said that during this time (in 2017), a demand was made to the central government that “ERCP should be declared a national project and it should be completed”. However, in 2018, the Congress government came to power in the state, and the ERCP scheme was put under cold storage, the leader claimed.
“Led by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Jal Shakti, intense consensus-building exercise was done by the Jal Shakti ministry during the past few years to build a consensus among both the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to implement this project,” a statement by the Jal Shakti ministry said Sunday.
Under the ERCP, surplus monsoon water is diverted from the Chambal basin. The project was envisaged by the previous BJP government as a permanent solution to the irrigation and drinking water issues of residents in the 13 districts of the state, it added.
“Achievement of consensus among both the states is a demonstration of inter-state cooperation under the able leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, thus paving the way for the joint development and inter-basin water transfers in Chambal basin on the lines of Ken-Betwa Link Project. This is a success of cooperative federalism in the country,” the Union government statement said.
Both the states will make their own detailed project reports (DPRs) and will create their own assets, said a senior official in the ministry, adding that the Centre will be a facilitator.
Meanwhile, the Congress has accused the BJP government at the Centre of “deliberately not implementing” the scheme when the opposition party was in power in the state between 2018 and 2023.
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BJP vs Cong
Seeking credit for resolving the issue between the two states, which are now governed by the BJP, Rajasthan BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj said, earlier the scheme could not materialise as the then MP CM Kamal Nath had raised certain objections to the scheme when it was sent to the Centre by the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government.
“After this, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat held at least 11 meetings to resolve the issue and streamline the scheme, but not a single meeting was attended by Ashok Gehlot. The BJP and PM Modi had given a commitment about ERCP and this is an example of Modi ji’s guarantee. The scheme could not be implemented as politically Congress didn’t wish to resolve the issue,” said Bhardwaj told ThePrint.
Meanwhile, a party leader explained that, while the scheme impacts 13 districts, it affects at least 40 percent of the state’s population.
“The nine Lok Sabha seats that will be directly impacted are Jaipur Rural, Dausa, Alwar, Bharatpur, Tonk–Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Jhalawar-Baran, Kota-Bundi, and Dholpur-Karauli,” said the party leader.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan BJP president C.P. Joshi said, “…This scheme will prove to be a milestone for development… The MOU for the ERCP scheme has been a historic decision… A dispute of 20 years has been resolved and a golden chapter has begun after the double-engine government was formed.”
#WATCH | Jaipur: On the ERCP MoU signed with Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan BJP President CP Joshi says, "…I want to that PM Modi on this occasion… This scheme will prove to be a milestone for development… The MOU for the ERCP scheme has been a historic decision… A dispute of… pic.twitter.com/eGxC4Vt4Wj
— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2024
Even as the BJP was quick to claim credit, the Congress has in the past accused the Centre of deliberately not implementing the scheme.
After the Congress government came to power in Rajasthan in 2018, the then CM Gehlot had requested PM Modi to declare the ERCP a national project.
“This is a project of 2017 when the BJP government was in power. In 2018, PM Modi had promised to make it a national project. But the BJP lost the elections and the focus of the party shifted from this project,” Swarnim Chaturvedi, general secretary, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee, told ThePrint.
“In 2018, our government (Congress) came to power in the state. A total of eight letters were written by Gehlotji, and even during interaction with PM Modi in NITI Aayog meetings, he had raised the issue. He had requested that the project be declared a national project,” Chaturvedi added.
He claimed that as the cost was coming up to be very high, Gehlot had asked the Centre for support. “The BJP is busy doing politics on it now but it didn’t do anything then,” he said.
Terming the MoU an “eyewash”, Chaturvedi claimed that a new DPR will now be made and the implementation will take a very long time.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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