Four Narmada States settle Sardar Sarovar cost dues

The Narmada Control Authority's review committee, chaired by the Jal Shakti Minister with four Chief Ministers, ratified a one-time settlement of decades-old Sardar Sarovar cost-sharing dues and fixed payment within 2026-27 - a negotiated close to a tribunal-era dispute, with no amounts in the release.

What happened

• The 15th meeting of the Review Committee for Narmada Control Authority (RCNCA) was held on 27 October 2026 by video conference, chaired by Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Paatil, with the Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• It adopted the opinion of the Attorney General for India and the Memorandum of Agreement of 7 July 2026, signed by the four States in New Delhi in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and Mr Paatil.
• The MoA is a one-time settlement of all pending inter-State dues, claims and financial liabilities - the long-running dispute over cost-sharing for the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project.
• The Committee approved the modalities for payment of outstanding dues of NWDT Award projects, to be completed within FY 2026-27.
• The Minister thanked the four Chief Ministers and officers of the party States, the Department of Water Resources and the Narmada Control Authority, and said every effort is being made to resolve inter-State river water issues.

For Prelims

• Article 262: Parliament may by law provide for adjudication of disputes over the use, distribution or control of the waters of any inter-State river, and may exclude the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and other courts. It did so in the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, whose Section 11 bars courts from such disputes.
• NWDT: the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted in 1969 under the 1956 Act. Its final Award came on 7 December 1979 (published 12 December), allocating 28 MAF of utilisable water: Madhya Pradesh 18.25, Gujarat 9, Rajasthan 0.5 and Maharashtra 0.25 MAF.
• Power from Sardar Sarovar: the Award shares the project's power among the States in fixed proportions - Madhya Pradesh 57 per cent, Maharashtra 27 per cent and Gujarat 16 per cent. With water, power and construction costs shared among four States, the accounts between them were bound to be contested.
• NCA and RCNCA: the Narmada Control Authority implements the Tribunal's Award; the Review Committee, chaired by the Union Minister in charge of water resources with the four Chief Ministers, sits above it. A settlement adopted at RCNCA level therefore binds all four party States.
• Attorney General for India: appointed under Article 76, the Government's chief legal adviser, who gives advice on legal matters referred by the Union Government. Here the AGI's opinion was adopted alongside the MoA - a legal basis for the settlement rather than a tribunal or court ruling.
• Sardar Sarovar Dam: on the Narmada at Kevadia, Gujarat, dedicated to the nation on 17 September 2017, with a height of 138.68 m. In October 2000 the Supreme Court (2:1) allowed construction to continue, subject to completion of rehabilitation - the Narmada Bachao Andolan case.
• Another inter-State water body met the same day: the Ganga Flood Control Board (constituted 18 April 1972), chaired by the Jal Shakti Minister with Ganga basin Chief Ministers, met on 27 October and discussed restructuring the Ganga Flood Control Commission and a Flood Management Information System.
• Courts and settlements: Section 11 keeps courts out of disputes referred to tribunals, but in the 1991-92 Cauvery matters the Supreme Court held it can still interpret the Act. The Narmada route this time was neither: a negotiated MoA among the States, brokered at Union level and backed by the AGI's opinion.

For Mains

Syllabus: GS2.2 · GS3.4 · Linkage L1