Will Clear Canal Project If State Sends Revised Plan: Shekhawat | Jaipur News

Jaipur: Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has assured CM Ashok Gehlot of clearing the long-pending Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) if the state sends a revised proposal within two months.
Shekhawat, while delivering an address at Chomu last night, said the Centre understands that ERCP is the lifeline of 13 eastern districts of Rajasthan.
The Central government has shot a letter to the state government asking them to revise the proposal by seeking 2,993 MCM water from the catchment areas of rivers flowing in MP while the state government is insisting on having a share of 5,068 MCM water in the ERCP. “I have written a letter to the Government of Rajasthan that if you make this scheme at 75% dependability (2,993 MCM), it will be cleared in two months or else (BJP) our government in 2023 will clear it,” said Shekhawat.
The ERCP has become a flashpoint between the Centre and the state as the latter is demanding that the Centre declare it a national project.
Recalling his efforts for resolving the issue, he said, “In 2019, when I became the Jal Shakti minister, I called a meeting of ministers and officers from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The officers came, but the ministers of Rajasthan are probably afraid to come to my office,” said the minister. He further claimed to have called the meeting seven times but the state minister did not come even once.
Refuting the allegations of Gehlot that the Centre is creating obstacles in way of the scheme, he said, “The first objection on ERCP was raised by then CM of Congress-ruled MP Kamal Nath. He pointed out that Gehlot’s formulated project is not in accordance with the rules of the Central government. Nath had cleared that they will not pass the project unless corrections were made.” Reiterating his claim that the project reached the Union government in 2018 and by then also discussions or reviews from either side of the scheme had not taken place.