Kishau Multipurpose Project: Interstate Consensus on Yamuna Waters

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Key takeaways

Six northern states signed a historic agreement to construct the Kishau Multipurpose Project on the Tons river along the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border.
Under a cooperative federalism framework, Delhi and Rajasthan agreed to pay Himachal Pradesh's Rs 2,000-crore power component liability in a 75:25 ratio.
The 422-MW project will generate 1,476 million units of electricity and bring irrigation to 97,000 hectares of farmland.
Delhi will receive 110 MCM of drinking water, and 25% of the project water is reserved for Yamuna river environmental flow to support the 2029 clean Yamuna target.

Six northern states signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to clear the long-pending Kishau Multipurpose Project.
The states involved include Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi.
This agreement resolves a major dispute regarding cost-sharing and water allocation among Yamuna basin states.

In 1994, Yamuna basin states signed an agreement to allocate the surface water of the Yamuna river.
The Upper Yamuna stretch from Yamunotri glacier to Okhla barrage lacked major water storage structures.
To fix this, the 1994 agreement identified three storage projects: Lakhwar in Uttarakhand, Renukaji in Himachal Pradesh, and Kishau on the HP-Uttarakhand border.

The Kishau Multipurpose Project involves building a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Tons river, a main tributary of the Yamuna.
As a designated National Project, the Central Government funds 90% of the water component, while basin states share the remaining 10%.
A major deadlock arose over the Rs 2,000-crore power component, which Himachal Pradesh refused to pay due to local ecological and displacement burdens.

The financial deadlock was solved through cooperative federalism among the participating states.
Downstream beneficiary states agreed to cover Himachal Pradesh's power liability to ensure project progress.
Delhi and Rajasthan agreed to pay this Rs 2,000-crore liability in a 75:25 ratio based on their drinking water benefits.

The 422-MW project will generate 1,476 million units of hydropower and irrigate 97,000 hectares of farmland.
Delhi will receive 110 million cubic metres (MCM) of water to fulfill its long-term drinking water requirements.
The project reserves 25% of its water flow strictly to maintain the environmental flow of the Yamuna river under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) target for 2029.