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Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra signed a one-time settlement agreement in New Delhi resolving decades-old payment and cost-sharing issues linked to the Narmada Award and the Sardar Sarovar Project. The pact was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah and Union Jal Shakti Minister Shri C R Patil, along with the chief ministers of all four states. The agreement addresses outstanding compensation and rehabilitation-related dues tied to submergence and land acquisition under the project.
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra signed a historic agreement on Tuesday in New Delhi to resolve a decades-old dispute over pending payments linked to the Narmada Award, bringing closure to one of India's longest-running inter-state water disputes. The agreement was concluded in the presence of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah and Union Minister of Jal Shakti Shri C R Patil, and was signed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel, Rajasthan Chief Minister Shri Bhajan Lal Sharma, and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Mohan Yadav.
The settlement addresses long-pending cost-sharing and compensation issues among the Narmada Award beneficiary states, centred on the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada river. According to officials, the agreement also resolves outstanding matters relating to the rehabilitation of people displaced by submergence under the project, as well as compensation for acquired land, concluding a dispute that had remained unresolved for several decades.
Addressing the gathering, Shri Shah said the issue of pending payments under the Narmada Award had persisted among the four states for years and had now been resolved amicably through consensus. He credited Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's leadership for a series of initiatives aimed at strengthening water security and promoting cooperative federalism, and said the presence of aligned state governments had improved coordination, reduced political friction and accelerated the resolution of several long-pending inter-state disputes. He commended the four state governments for their constructive engagement in reaching a broad consensus on the project.
Shri Shah noted that while the direct benefits to Rajasthan might appear limited at first glance, areas that had received Narmada waters had seen a marked change in land values and in the economic circumstances of farmers in those regions. He added that under the Jal Shakti ministry, several water-related disputes across the country were being resolved in a phased manner, citing the recent settlement of the water dispute between Haryana and Rajasthan as a related example. He described the Kishau Dam Project consensus, the Rajasthan-Haryana water agreement, and the present Narmada settlement as instances of cooperative federalism, adding that water resources ultimately served farmers and citizens regardless of the state in which they were utilised.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Shri Bhajan Lal Sharma said on social media that the agreement would strengthen water security, support inter-state coordination and bring long-term benefits to farmers, particularly in the border regions of Rajasthan that receive water from the Sardar Sarovar Project.
The Sardar Sarovar Project is among India's largest multipurpose river valley schemes, supplying irrigation, drinking water and hydroelectric power to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. It has historically been the subject of prolonged disputes over rehabilitation, land acquisition, compensation and financial obligations among the participating states. The agreement follows other recent Centre-facilitated settlements, including consensus reached earlier this year among six states on the Kishau Multipurpose Dam Project, and the operationalisation of a 32-year-old Yamuna water-sharing arrangement between Rajasthan and Haryana.
Source PTI
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