CAMPAIGN

Vol. 2                                    No. 1                              Feburary 2000

Interview of Dr C P Thakur, Union water resources minister

Is the role of the union water resources ministry merely that of a "public relation officer?" We invite your comments on this interview.

Thakur: Countries that have been able to manage their water resources efficiently are much more advanced today than those who have mismanaged it. In India, we have failed to manage water. We have not been able to implement many water-related projects due to opposition from several fronts. Most of the projects today stand incomplete so their costs have escalated manifold. Another major factor is that the role of the water resources ministry is just of a "public relation officer", who liaisons between state governments. All the powers are in the hands of state governments. We must have a coordinated effort to find a solution. We have planned to call members of parliament from all over the country to discuss the water scarcity issue with them. We would seek their views and cooperation, as to how the projects can be implemented in which a huge amount of the country’s money is still locked up.

Thakur: The National Water Policy adopted by government in 1987 emphasizes that water should be made available to water scarce areas by transfer from other areas including transfers from one river basin to another. Therefore, we have chalked out a plan to bring the water in all the water scarce areas in the country. The plan would require an investment of more than Rs 3,00,000 crore for a period of 25 to 30 years. This National Water Plan would give additional irrigation benefits of 35 million hectares in the country.

Thakur: This would be the priority of my government. Water harvesting concept has shown very good results in areas where it is been implemented properly. We want to promote and encourage this concept. We are planning to call non-governmental organisations and people who are involved in such projects to discuss the concept in detail. We will also chalk out a comprehensive plan in this regard. We want to take a balanced approach to use both big and small projects to deal with the crisis.

Thakur: I agree that there has been a very little implementation of the policy. But we want to discuss this issue with the Prime Minister, who heads the National Water Policy, so that we can get a positive outcome. We are making a proposal in this regard.

Thakur: The role of water resources ministry is to make available water in a particular area. Then it becomes the job of department dealing with urban affairs or rural development to utilize the resources and deal with the drinking water or other crises. The success of such projects depends on coordinated efforts by all the ministries such as agriculture, water resources, environment and others.

Reference: C P Thakur, Dec 1999, personal communication.