Sachin Pilot urges PM to grant national status to Eastern Rajasthan Canal

Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to grant national status to the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project during his proposed visit to the state on February 12.

Pilot, in his letter, said that the then-state government announced the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project in the 2017-18 budget as a "permanent solution" to the problem of drinking and irrigation water in 13 eastern districts of the state namely Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Jaipur, Dausa Karauli, Alwar, Bharatpur, and Dhaulpur.

"...After that, in a meeting organised in Rajasthan in the year 2018, you also assured to declare this project as a national project but till now the said project has not been declared as a national project," he said.

"I have come to know that your programme is proposed on 12th February 2023, in the Dausa district of Rajasthan. In such a situation, the residents of the state, including me, expect you to declare the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project as a national project so that there can be a permanent solution to the drinking and irrigation water problems of half the state's population living in these 13 districts," Pilot added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is proposed to inaugurate the Sohna-Dausa stretch of the Delhi Mumbai Expressway on February 12.

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was earlier scheduled to be inaugurated on February 4.