State asks Centre to  rectify anomalies in India-WRIS website 

The state government has asked the Centre to rectify the anomalies that have cropped up in the  India-WRIS website wherein the Neyyar Irrigation Project (NIP)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has asked the Centre to rectify the anomalies that have cropped up in the  India-WRIS website wherein the Neyyar Irrigation Project (NIP) is shown as an inter-state project.In a letter to Central Water Resources Minister Nithin Gadkari, state Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas requested the minister to direct the Central Water Commission (CWC) to rectify its mistake and update the status of the Neyyar Irrigation Project as an intra-state project.
‘’Despite repeated requests, the CWC continues to adhere to its erroneous stand in treating NIP as an inter-state project. In the reply dated January 18, 2017, the CWC stated it stands by its views regarding the status of the project and would take appropriate action to revise the status of the Neyyar Project only upon the receipt of comments from the Tamil Nadu Government,’’ he said in the letter. 

The argument of the CWC that the irrigation project involving sharing of water, benefits and cost is considered as having inter-state ramification and thus such projects have to be considered as inter-state projects did not hold in the case of NIP.  ‘’There is no sharing of cost for the project between  Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Neyyar is not an inter-state river but purely an intra-state river as the entire length of the river (56 km) from its origin to the confluence with the Arabian sea is undisputedly within the territory of Kerala,’’ he said.

Thomas said the left bank canal system of the Neyyar Project was taken up as Stage II of the project implementation in 1959. It was fully commissioned in 1976. The Re-organisation of the State was carried out in 1956 and no agreement was executed for the supply of water to Tamil Nadu from the Neyyar Irrigation Project before or after the Re-organisation of the States. The command area of the project is entirely within Kerala, he said.

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