NEW DELHI: The Centre will set up an exclusive
water
management authority for north-east India - North Eastern Water Management Authority (NEWMA) - which will be the apex body for developing all water and river-based projects in the region, and take care of conservation aspects of this natural resources.
The Union water resources (Jal Shakti) ministry is expected to bring a Bill in this regard in the ongoing budget session of the Parliament. A draft of this proposed legislation is currently being prepared with consultation of a committee comprising of chief ministers of all eight north-eastern states.
The Authority, once set up after passing of the proposed legislation in Parliament, will be involved in implementation and monitoring of all projects related to hydro-power, bio-diversity conservation, irrigation, flood control, inland waterways, forestry, fishery and eco-tourism in all north-eastern states —
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Manipur,
Mizoram, Nagaland,
Sikkim
and
Tripura
.
The Authority will be set up in the backdrop of China’s ambitious second phase of south-north water diversion scheme which aims to transfer water from its flood-prone south to arid northern regions. It is believed that the Chinese move may affect flow of water in the rivers to north-east India as many of such rivers originate in China.
Union Jal Shakti minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, on Friday presided over a meeting of the committee to discuss draft bill on setting up the proposed Authority. Union water secretary U P Singh and, chief ministers and water resources ministers of north-eastern states attended the meeting.
It was proposed in the meeting that the headquarters of the Authority will be set up in Guwahati.
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Read MoreVishwa Mohan is Senior Editor at The Times of India. He writes on environment, climate change, agriculture, water resources and clean energy, tracking policy issues and climate diplomacy. He has been covering Parliament since 2003 to see how politics shaped up domestic policy and India’s position at global platform. Before switching over to explore sustainable development issues, Vishwa had covered internal security and investigative agencies for more than a decade.
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