Ranchi, Sept. 28: The Jharkhand and Bengal governments have agreed to set up a joint committee to monitor the release of Subernarekha and Kharkai waters and minimise flood threats.

A strongly-worded letter from the Orissa chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, to the governor, Syed Sibtey Razi, on inordinate delays plaguing the ambitious Subernarekha Multipurpose Project (SMP), despite the neighbouring state spending a whopping over Rs 545 crore over the last three decades, has activated the Jharkhand administration.

The Subernarekha basin in Jamshedpur

A long-standing dispute between the state government and Tata Steel over the cess on water from Subernarekha and Kharkai basin in Jamshedpur seems to have reached an amicable solution, with the steel major agreeing to pay Rs 40 crore.