NEW DELHI, Dec 15 ? While ruling out the possibility of convening a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the issue of inter-linking of rivers, the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has clarified that it has no proposal under consideration to impose cess, taxes and duties to mobilise funds for the Project. In a significant admission, the MoWR has confirmed that the Task force on river linking Project has moved the Ministry of Defence for security clearance to place digitalised maps of the topography maps of the rivers on its web site besides using them for other purposes such as preparation of tender documents, technical reports among others.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Water Resources, Bijoya Chakravarty said the Ministry of Defence has suggested to carry out certain corrections in the maps and had desired that the coastline and international boundary of India would need to be authenticated by the Director, Map Publications, Survey of India before final printing. In this connection, Survey of India has suggested certain modifications to be attached to in the maps, she added.
Meanwhile, the Minister has held Assam Government responsible for the delay in execution of the Pagladiya multi-purpose Project. The Project has made limited headway to non-handing over of the land by State Government to the project executing agency and security related problems, the Minister claimed. The Central Government has released Rs 24.82 crore during 2000-2001 and Rs 17.50 crore during 2001-2002 for the Project, the Minister added in a separate reply.
The Minister divulged that Pagladiya multi-purpose project in Assam was the lone irrigation project cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) during the last three years. In reply to a separate question, the Minister said that the Dhansiri Irrigation Project has been provided Central Loan Assistance (CLA) of Rs 28.82 crore and Champamati Rs 13 crore. The completion of the two projects depend on the priority accorded to these projects and funds made available by the State Government, She said. Assam has been included under Special Category and CLA is provided in the ratio of 3:1 (Centre-State), the Minister added.