By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Decks were cleared on Tuesday for the construction of the long-pending Kishau Multipurpose Project on the Tons River as its riparian states — Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh joined hands with Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to share the remaining 10% of the project cost and its benefits.
In the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Patil at New Delhi, the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana signed the agreement, the first of its kind in north India, to strengthen water security, irrigation and clean energy generation in the Upper Yamuna basin.
Declared a national project, the Kishau project will see around 90% of the financial burden of its water component borne by the Centre, with the remaining 10% to be shared by the participating states.
The project envisages construction of a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam across the Tons River, which flows along the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border. The reservoir will have a storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres.
Delhi to be a major beneficiary
Delhi is expected to be among the biggest beneficiaries of the agreement, particularly in terms of water availability. Under the consensus reached among the states earlier this year, Himachal Pradesh’s share of water is to be allocated to Delhi and Rajasthan in return for sharing the cost of Himachal Pradesh’s share of the project’s power component.
The project is expected to contribute to the broader effort to augment water availability in the Yamuna basin, with the additional regulated flow also seen as important for the rejuvenation of the Yamuna.
Irrigation and clean power
The Kishau project is planned to create irrigation potential for around 97,000 hectares of land and generate about 1,476 million units of clean hydropower.
Its large storage capacity will help regulate water flows and support irrigation across the participating states, while the hydropower component will add to the region’s renewable energy resources.
The project is part of a larger plan to develop storage projects in the Upper Yamuna basin. The Kishau dam is located on the Tons, one of the major tributaries of the Yamuna.
The agreement follows years of discussions among the basin states over the sharing of water, costs and benefits. A consensus was reached in June this year, when the six states agreed to proceed with an MoU for implementation of the project.
The signing in the presence of the Union ministers marks a significant step towards taking forward the long-delayed project and reflects the Centre’s push for negotiated solutions to inter-state water issues.
Officials from the Union Home Ministry, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and the concerned states were also present at the signing ceremony.