It seems Rajasthan state is ignored and is silent as Madhya Pradesh is going ahead with massive water resources development projects in interstate ChambalRiver basin. Some of these projects were even part of the interstate projects discussed for several years between the two states and now Madhya Pradesh is going ahead with them unilaterally. Mohanpura and Kundaliya projects were also part of the ParbatiKalisindh ChambalRiver link, one of the priority links of Union Government, but now MP is going ahead with them without any consultation with Rajathan or Government. In response to SANDRP questions, Madhya Pradesh responded, as recorded in the minutes of 68^th meeting of EAC held in Sept 2013, “It was clarified that the NWDA scheme has not been accepted by the M.P. Government and is not likely to be implemented in the near future. The M. P. Government wants immediate implementation of Mohanpura Project”.

Not only that, the MP has ten times increased the size of the projects, which will have huge, unassessed downstream impacts on people, river and environment. The interstate National Chambal Sanctuary (NCS) will also be seriously adversely affected, but the downstream Rajasthan seems neither consulted nor concerned.

Below we have given some information about some of the projects that have come up for clearance before the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests’ Expert Appraisal Committee on River Valley Projects (the meeting number and date of meetings are given) over the last couple of years. All of these projects are in Chambal basin in Madhya Pradesh and are being taken up without consent of or consultation with state or people of Rajasthan.

Mohanpura Major Irrigation Project
Dist/ State	Rajgarh / Madhya Pradesh
River/ Basin	Newaj
Proposal	TOR
Developer	Water Resource Department, Bhopal, Govt of Madhya Pradesh
Height of Dam (m)	47.90
Drinking water supply	20 MCM
Industrial Water Supply	60 MCM
CCA (Ha)	65,000
Submergence area (Ha)	7051
Area required (Ha)	NA
	Villages affected		36 (1800 families) (10,240 persons)
	ForestLand		NO
Decision
52nd Meeting (16-17.09.2011)		Decided that some additional information may be submitted
53rd Meeting (11-12.11.2011)		No effective discussion on the parameters of the project could be made and it was decided that the project shall be discussed again along with the information submitted by the M.P. Govt.
54th Meeting (26-27.12.2011)		Recommended scoping clearance and TORs with the same comments and observations made for Kundaliya Project.

This Mohanpura project (for more information on this, see: https://sandrp.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/mohanpura-dam-in-madhya-pradesh/) have been under discussed in the EAC now for full environment clearance and does not include any reference to Rajasthan, interstate aspects, downstream impacts, or impact on Chambal River of National Chambal Sanctuary. Some details in this respect are given below.

Much bigger Mohanpura Reservoir proposed compared to the PKC proposal It is clear from the perusal of the Feasibility Report of the PKC link given on the NWDA website that the project now proposed by the Govt of Madhya Pradesh is much bigger and an unviable scheme. The Gross and live storage of the NWDA scheme is 140 MCM and 52.5 MCM, where as the proposal now has gross storage of 616.27 MCM and live storage of 539.42 MCM, which means the live storage proposed now is more than ten times the live storage proposed in NWDA scheme. In fact the NWDA scheme had the proposal to transfer 464 MCM from the Patanpur Dam to the Mohanpura dam and yet, under the Mohanpura live storage capacity proposed under NWDA scheme was much smaller. 

Interstate aspects ignored The project is coming up on an interstate river basin and will have clear implications for the downstream state of Rajasthan, but there is no mention of this in the EIA. Several meetings have also happened between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan about the PKC link mentioned above. The Government of India has prioritized this link, but by taking up this project unilaterally without consent of Rajasthan or Centre (Ministry of Water Resources) the Madhya Pradesh government is violating the interstate and federal norms. The EIA does not even mention any of these issues.

Kundaliya Major Irrigation Project
Dist/ State	Rajgarh and Shajapur Districts/ Madhya Pradesh
River/ Basin	Kalisindh
Proposal	TOR
Developer	Water Resource Department, Bhopal, Govt of Madhya Pradesh
Height of Dam (m)	44.50
Drinking water supply	18 MCM
Industrial Water Supply	84 MCM
Diversion	1037 cumecs of LakhundarRiver to river Kalisindh
Live storage capacity	495.20 MCM
CCA (Ha)	58040
Catchment Area (sq km)	4900
Submergence area (Ha)	7476
Villages affected	56 (8630 persons)
Forest land	680 ha
Decision
52nd Meeting (16-17.09.2011)		Desired some more info.
53rd Meeting (11-12.11.2011)		It was decided that the project shall be discussed again along with the information submitted by the M.P. Govt. The Committee felt that considerable area of forest land is to be submerged in the project (680 ha). The forest maps provided as a part of additional information lack clarity.
54th Meeting (26-27.12.2011)		Recommended scoping clearance and TORs with some suggestions/comments.

Kalisindh Major irrigation project
Dist/ State	Sajapur/ Madhya Pradesh
River/ Basin	Kalisindh
Proposal	TOR
Developer	Water Resources Department, Govt of Madhya Pradesh
CCA	49023
Submergence area (Ha)	4239
Area Req (Ha)	4919
Village affected	15 (2384 PAFs)
Decision
61st Meeting (12-13.10.2012)		Sought some additional information.
62nd Meeting (23-24.11.2012)		Recommended clearance for pre-construction activities and TOR with some additional TORs.

It is high time Rajasthan government and people wake up to this reality of upstream developments and write to Madhya Pradesh, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and also Union Water Resources Ministry against these developments.

Himanshu Thakkar (ht.sandrp@gmail.com)