Tuesday, April 5 2005 10:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India and China are likely sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for enhanced cooperation for river Sutlej during the coming visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

The signing of the MoU would be a follow up to the Secretary level talks in Beijing last month, Union Water Resources Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told members of the Consultative Committee meeting of his Ministry in New Delhi, which discussed flood management and erosion control issues.

He informed the members that for the year 2005-06, an allocation of over Rs 230 crore has been made for flood control, which was "much more than the amount provided during last year", according to an official release in New Delhi.

In addition, an amount of Rs 108 crore has been kept for allocation to the States to be released through the Finance Ministry, he said.

Dasmunsi, who chaired the meeting, said that the jurisdiction of Farakka Barrage has been extended for speedy implementation of its schemes in its jurisdiction and another scheme for taking up critical flood control and anti-erosion schemes in the North-East has also been approved at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore to be implemented in the State sector.

A scheme amounting to Rs 41.28 crore has been approved for the protection of Majuli Island and work is being executed through the Brahmaputra Board, he informed.

Minister of State for Water Resources Jai Prakash Naayan Yadav, Secretary (Water Resources) Hari Narayan, MPs S P Y Reddy, Ramkishna Kusmaria, Mohd Muqueem, K Subbarayan, G P Pilania, N P Durga and senior officials were present, the release said.

Yadav informed the members that an amount of Rs 316.14 crore has been recommended as financial assistance to the Ganga basin States as well as Northeastern States to take up critical flood control and anti-erosion schemes - an immediate measure to be taken before the arrival of the flood season.

"It would be worthwhile that a Board similar to Sikkim and North Bengal River Management Board is appropriately constituted to tackle problems of Ganga basin," he said.

Some members called for tackling the problems of encroachment of land along the rivers and called for looking into the feasibility of power generation from Brahmaputra while others stressed on the need to survey rivers bordering Nepal for evolving effective strategies for dealing with flood-related problems.

Dasmunsi said in view of the problems of depleting ground water, the agenda for the next meeting is proposed to be on issues relating to 'ground water', the release added.