No hindrance in grant of national importance status to ERCP: Gehlot

Hitting out at Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat over the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said there was no hindrance in declaring it a project of national importance.

All the parameters related to the project are as per the guidelines of the Central Water Commission, the chief minister said.

A detailed project report (DPR) of the ERCP was prepared by the BJP government in Rajasthan in 2017 through a central government-owned consultancy under the supervision of the then chairman of the Rajasthan River Basin Authority Shriram Vedire, Gehlot said in a statement here.

He was reacting to the Jal Shakti minister recently saying that the DPR of the ERCP was yet to be approved.

The Rajasthan government has been urging the Centre to give the project a national status, saying this would enable fast completion of the ERCP and 13 districts of the eastern part of the state would get drinking and irrigation water.

The ERCP aims to harvest surplus water available during the rainy season in rivers in southern Rajasthan such as Chambal and its tributaries, including Kunnu, Parvati, and Kalisindh, and use it in 13 southeastern districts that face scarcity.

Gehlot said there was no point in questioning the DPR of the project.

The project is very important for the state of Rajasthan, he added.