Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel on Saturday took offence to statements made by Madhya Pradesh that it would not release Narmada water for the Sardar Sarovar dam unless the Gujarat government and the Centre addressed its concerns about the dam-affected people. Rupani said it was unfortunate that Madhya Pradesh was playing politics over Narmada water at a time when Gujarat is urgently in need of Narmada waters due to the delayed monsoon and asked the neighbouring state to stop issuing “threats”.
Interacting with journalists in Rajkot, Rupani said, “Share of Narmada waters has been decided by the award of (Narmada Water Disputes) Tribunal in 1979. No state has any right to make any changes to it.” The award of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal is legally binding on four states-Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The Narmada Control Authority (NCA) was set up on the orders of the Central government and the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court order is quite clear, that there will be no change in water share till 2024,” Rupani said.