Chennai: The Centre has no plans to transfer
the subject of water from state list to concurrent list of the
Constitution, Union Minister of State for Water Resources
Vincent H Pala today said.
All the states have to agree to transfer water to the
Concurrent list and then only Parliament can take it up, he
said replying to a question from reporters here on the
sidelines of `TN Water Summit-2010`.
On intra-state river linking, he said the Centre was ready
to provide funds to link rivers within the state.
He the Centre had not dropped the project for Artificial
Recharge of Ground Water Level through dug wells. "Seven
states have been identified for this project and Tamil Nadu is
one among them", he said adding the Centre had allocated Rs
200 crore for the project.
Addressing the summit, organised by Confederation of
Indian Industry, he said immediate action was required for
efficient management of resources for ensuring physical
sustainability and improving the efficiency of water use to
its optimum level.
He said food security and impact of climate change were
serious challenges and water was central to both.
"We are fully aware of the climate change and its impact
on water. Almost all the studies point towards a definite
impact on the hydrologic cycle, which could result in
intensification of the temporal and spatial variation in the
availability of water resources", he said.
Pala urged industries to actively participate in water
conservation and improving the water use particularly through
adoption of measures like reuse and recycling.
PTI
