Jaipur: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) would be completed even without the support of the Centre.
“I want to ask Prime Minister Narendra Narendra Modi ji: Why did your government ask us to stop the ERCP work? I am not begging for anything. It is our right. Water belongs to the states; it is not a subject of the Centre. I would like to say that I am not going to close it at any cost,” said Gehlot in his address at a ‘Congress Jan Pratinidhi Sabha’ programme on the ERCP held at Birla Auditorium.
He asserted that the state government or Congress is not playing any politics on the issue as it is going to fulfil the need of the residents of 13 districts of Rajasthan.
The ERCP project has become a flashpoint between the Centre and state as the former has asked the latter to immediately stop its progress. As per the 2017 records, the estimated cost of the project is Rs 36,200 crore.
Supporting the claim of the larger share of water, which was one of the objections by the central government on ERCP, Gehlot said that Central Water Commission (CWC) has placed a water gauge meter at the exit point of the Chambal River at Dholpur.
“They have issued a detailed report stating a huge volume of water that flows out of the state underutilised merges with Yamuna River, which further merges with the Ganga River. The unutilised water further flows into the Indian Ocean. The wastewater is sufficient for the state to fulfil the needs of 75% dependability, and yet they (PM Modi) are causing problems,” said Gehlot.
The CM defended his statement calling Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat ‘Nikamma’ (Useless). He said he did so on June 28 as Shekhawat had been ignoring Modi’s call in 2018 to accord ECRP a national status.
“‘Nikamma’ means somebody who does not work. What is wrong in it?” asked Gehlot. He has asked Congress leaders from the 13 districts to tell the public how the Centre is creating a wall between them and the water.
This was the second meeting chaired by the CM in less than ten days in order to build momentum on the ERCP. Addressing the meeting, Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra said the ERCP does not belong to Congress or BJP. “This issue belongs to Rajasthan, and the Congress government will not allow your (Centre’s) political conspiracies to sabotage the ERCP. Until the ERCP is announced as a national project, the people of 13 districts will not allow you to enter the area,” said Dotasra.
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