Bihar and Jharkhand Sign Sone River Water Sharing Pact After 25 Years
· India · Hindustan Times, The Hindu
Bihar and Jharkhand are set to sign a long-pending agreement on Monday formalising the sharing of Sone river waters, ending a dispute that has dragged on since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in November 2000. Under the deal, Bihar will receive 5.75 million acre-feet (MAF) and Jharkhand 2.0 MAF from the original 7.75 MAF allocated to undivided Bihar under the 1973 Bansagar Agreement, which governs water sharing among Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The division follows a unanimous recommendation by a Centre-constituted committee chaired by the Central Water Commission, and follows cabinet clearance in Jharkhand earlier this month. Chief ministers of both states will attend the signing ceremony, with the Union Jal Shakti ministry confirming that all details have been finalised. The agreement closes one of the oldest unresolved inter-state water disputes on the Sone, which originates in Madhya Pradesh and flows through both states before joining the Ganga in Bihar.
Why it matters
The pact resolves a 25-year-old inter-state dispute that had stalled infrastructure and irrigation planning across the Sone river basin, directly affecting millions of farmers and downstream users in Bihar and Jharkhand. It also sets a precedent for how successor states can formalise allocations from pre-bifurcation water agreements.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
Join us on Telegram
Breaking news the moment it lands. At 10,000 members we ship the Android app.