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Patna : Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti held a high level meeting on August 19, 2017, in New Delhi to review the flood situation in the country and the actions being taken at the national level. The officers briefed her about the flood situation in various parts of the country and the pro-active action taken by the agencies concerned under the Ministry.The Minster will visit Uttar Pradesh on August 21 and Bihar on August 25 to hold discussions on flood related issues with the respective state governments.
The Minister was informed that the Central Water Commission (CWC) had taken pro-active steps during the flood by way of issuing around 3,200 flood forecasts to all concerned which helped the district administration in saving of lives of millions of people. Further, Ministry has issued seven specific districtwise advisories on likely floods and damwise advisories for water release wherever applicable to facilitate early NDRF/SDRF deployment and operation of reservoir gates. Another significant step taken by the Ministry since June 2017 is that three day advance flood advisories based on rainfall-runoff model have been made available to all the 19 river basins online.
The Minister directed that CWC, GFCC and Brahmaputra Board, in consultation with the related Central Ministries and state Governments, shall undertake an exercise to identify and map reaches vulnerable to erosion and landslide along the banks of the rivers and suggest possible remedial measures, according to a PIB release.
She said Ministry has obtained all clearance for Ken-Betwa Link Project in MP and UP. The Minister said that Uttar Pradesh government has conveyed its support to Ken Betwa river interlinking project and the response of Madhya Pradesh Government is expected soon. The Centre is eager to implement this first river interlinking project for the benefit of the people of Bundhelkhand region. The DPR of Damanganga-Pinjal link and Par-Tapi-Narmada interlinking projects are in advanced stage, according to the PIB release. The Kosi –Mechi link and Kosi-Ghagra link envisaged in the Himalayan region would greatly reduce flood intensity in the Ganga Basin, she said.
The Minister said Government of India is holding continuous dialogue with the Government of Nepal at various levels to mitigate devastation caused by the flood from the rivers originating from Nepal through planning of various storage dams jointly. Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project on river Sarada, Sapta Kosi High dam Project and Sun Kosi Storage-cum- Diversion scheme are proposed in the Sapta Kosi Basin, according to the release.