Centre, Maharashtra to hold talks on river-linking project.

Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan said recently that a high-level meeting would be held here soon to discuss and resolve the issues dogging the Nar-Par-Tapi-Narmada river-linking project.

Mahajan, who attended the eighth meeting of the special committee for interlinking of rivers in Delhi recently, also said that at the meeting, he stressed that excess water from the Nar-Par-Tapi-Narmada basin must not be allowed to go to Gujarat.

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and the Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti chaired the meeting. 'In the meeting, we discussed the hurdles in the project, which will pass through various States,' Mahajan said.

We have a dispute with Gujarat over the share of water from the Nar-Par-Tapi-Narmada basin. We do not want to let water of our share go to the neighbouring State,' he said.

He added that though Maharashtra is possessive over its share of water, it is not possible to lift water from the basin to a height of 600 to 800 metres and divert it to some other part of the State.

'The scheme is not viable and impossible to implement. Hence, instead, we are demanding an equal share of water from the Tapi river to Maharashtra from Gujarat. But, Gujarat is opposing the solution. This was raised in the meeting and Uma Bharti intervened in the issue,' he said.

HBL