Three hours drive beyond Hosur from Bangalore, the popular picnic spot Hogenakkal

The Central Ground Water Board, Union Ministry of Water Resources, North Eastern Region, will observe the World Water Day on March 20 at the Institution of Engineers hall, Panbazar.

A 12-kilometre long tunnel of 10 metre diametre would be constructed at a cost of Rs 799 crore for carrying Narmada water to the basin of Son river under Bargi diversion project.

The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has denied having received any report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) experts on the flood and erosion problems of Assam.

The Central Government has declared 14 water resources projects as National Projects for which 90 per cent project cost of irrigation and drinking water component of the project is to be provided as Central Grant. The projects include the Kulsi Dam in Assam, Upper Siang and Nao Dihang Dam Projects in Arunachal Pradesh. The Planning Commission would take up the projects after techno-economic appraisal of the Detailed Project Report and Investment clearance. The projects in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh would be funded on the 90:10 basis. The irrigation benefits from these projects is estimated to be about 21 lakh ha apart from additional indirect irrigation benefits and availability of drinking water, said Union Water Resources Minister, Prof Saifuddin Soz, in a Rajya Sabha reply.

The Central Government has approved 75 flood control and anti-erosion schemes proposed by the State Water Resources Department (WRD) for implementation from this financial year. The schemes are worth around Rs 434.839 crore, 29 thousand. The Centre is releasing before March next the first installment worth Rs 97.83 crore against the schemes. However, the release of funds will depend on the progress of implementation of the schemes.

THESE days China's environmental bureaucrats know how to talk the talk. They readily admit that pollution is poisoning the country's water resources, air and soil. They acknowledge that carbon emissions are soaring. If only, they lament, the government would give them the means to do something about it.

An agitation in Chhattisgarh against the construction of a dam on the Kurkut river by Jindal Steel is representative of many such popular struggles going on across the country.