Govt marks another survey as consultants doubt feasibility of project. Jammu will not be supplied drinking water from the Chenab till 2025, as the government has decided to conduct another survey of the project, after consultants expressed doubts about its success. Sources said fears have been raised over the feasibility of the project after a study was conducted in 2009-10 in a bid to end the water crisis in Jammu and its surrounding districts. The project aimed at lifting 100 cusecs of water from the river to meet the future needs of the city.

A day after demanding a meeting of the Cauvery River Water Authority, Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Sunday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ask Karnataka to stop “forthwith the execution of any check dams or diversion structures across the Pennaiyar river”.

“I understand the government of Karnataka has proposed to construct check dams and diversion structures across the Pennaiyar river, which is causing great alarm and apprehension in Tamil Nadu

Boston-based Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia has observed that India must consult with co-riparian countries for any project on shared rivers.
The Alliance formed in 1993, came up with the remarks at a meeting held recently at MIT, Cambridge, USA to discuss India's recently revived River Linking Project, according to a message received here.

Charging Karnataka with “unjustly utilising” Cauvery water for summer irrigation, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, today asked the Prime Minister, Dr Manmhohan Singh, to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue.

Karnataka has been “unjustly utilising” the water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting the storage in its four major reservoirs, she said in a letter to Dr Singh.

Reservoirs' storage

The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, hopes the long-pending dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam can be resolved through legal processes, as the neighbouring State has not come forward for talks.

“We are always ready for talks, either bilateral or through the Centre’s mediation. But Tamil Nadu has not agreed to that. In this situation, we expect a solution to the issue from the Supreme Court,” Mr Chandy said.

CHENNAI: Charging Karnataka with "unjustly utilising" Cauvery water for summer irrigation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today asked Prime Minister Manmhohan Singh to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue.

Karnataka has been unjustly utilising the water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting storage in its four major reservoirs, she said in a letter to Singh.

Minister for water resources Pawan Kumar Bansal is reported to have been horrified to have learnt of the macabre incident in which a mother, Qadeeran, and her youngest son, Rasheed, were killed by her two elder sons, Nafees and Anees, over a water dispute in Banda district of Bundelkhand.

Plunging groundwater levels would have only served to accelerate the situation but Mr Bansal is reported to have confided to close aides that even he was shocked that a water dispute would result in “matricide and fratricide”.

Although Pakistan has opened up its borders for enhanced trade with India, water disputes remain unresolved which several analysts, including US officials as noted in Wikileaks, believe may well be the reason for a war between the two countries.

India has already announced it would complete 330-megawatt Kishanganga hydroelectric project by 2014 despite the fact that the issue is pending in the International Court of Arbitration (ICA)/ neutral expert at The Hague in the Netherlands.

A high-level team of water commissioners from India and Pakistan and members of the International Court of Arbitration on Thursday inspected the 330-megawatt Kishanganga Hydro Power Project in north Kashmir's Bandipura district.

The seven-member team, including a hydrologist, reached Gurez where they inspected the proposed dam site near Malik Kadal, a Kashmir news agency quoted a senior official as saying.

The team has come to inspect the project before the next hearing of the International Court of Arbitration being held at The Hague later this month.

India on Monday assured Bangladesh that the government was working “very hard” to develop “political consensus” on two bilateral agreements — the Teesta water-sharing treaty and the land boundary pact — but did not commit to a time-frame, sources told The Indian Express on Monday. A worried Bangladesh government has been pressing for an early signing of the Teesta water-sharing pact, since it is a very emotive issue in the country. And the Sheikh Hasina government has also requested New Delhi to ratify the land boundary agreement in Parliament that was signed in September 2011.