Rajasthan approaches Centre on pollution

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has complained to the Centre about high level of pollution in the Indira Gandhi canal, which supplies the Sutlej-Beas waters to the desert state.

Officials say Raje complained about “indiscriminate dumping of industrial waste” from Ludhiana at the Harike barrage and dead bodies being sighted in the canal flowing into Rajasthan.

Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, who yesterday held a review meeting of her ministry on the recently-held water week and people’s participation on management of the precious natural resource, is expected to convene a meeting with the chief ministers of two states to resolve the water-related issues.

The meeting follows consultations in the first week of February on desalination of sea water with states such as Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Lakshwadeep who are doing “excellent work in the area”.

“Their best practices will be collected and shared with rest of the coastal states to mitigate their water related problems,” the officials said. India is also planning to coordinate with Australia, China and Israel for cooperation on best practices on water conservation and irrigation for farming being followed by the country.