Patna, (Bihar Times): Flood-prone Bihar and drought-prone Jharkhand have agreed to speed up pending irrigation projects, which will help the two states share water.

The water resources ministers of the two states met in Ranchi on Monday to sort out problems that have delayed the completion of irrigation projects.

According to the water resources minister of Jharkhand, Kamlesh Singh, the two governments have discussed the pending irrigation projects. There are some issues which will be resolved in a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 27.

Bihar’s water resources minister, Ramashrya Prasad Singh, said that a secretary level meeting will take place on December 2. The two states are determined to complete the pending projects.

The Koel, Indrapuri and Mohane projects are amongthe six irrigation projects pending for decades. More than Rs17 billion is needed to complete all these six projects. The Bihar government has agreed to release Rs 90 million for the Koel project.

The plateau state of Jharkhand irrigates only 12 per cent of its cultivable land through canals and other irrigation systems and if the pending irrigation projects are completed then it will be able to irrigate an additional four per cent of its land.

Comment