Patna, Jan. 25: Bihar is in favour of revision of terms of Vansagar agreement, which was inked in 1973 for sharing the water of Sone river among Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

“We will soon approach the Centre for initiating the talks, because the existing terms of the agreement fail to meet the present irrigation requirement of the state,” state water resources department minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary told journalists today.

The minister was talking to journalists after a meeting with people’s representatives of Sone command area in Bihar.

The meeting was convened to seek suggestions from representatives about the steps that need to be taken to improve the irrigation facilities in the area and also to share information about the steps being taking by the water resources department to address the issue.

Over two dozen people’s representatives including MPs and MLAs took part in the meeting.

Accepting that Bihar was not getting its due share of water from Sone river, which is used for irrigation purposes through the Sone canal system, Choudhary said the state government was pursuing the matter on a regular basis.

The state government had also deputed water resources department officials both at Vansagar in Madhya Pradesh and Rihand in Uttar Pradesh to ensure that sufficient water is released into the Sone from these two points.

“Our efforts have resulted in some positive developments and the flow of water in the past few days has increased,” the water resources department minister added.

The Sone canal system is the oldest in the state. The system was set up in 1873. Many new canals were added to this system in the subsequent years.

Choudhary said efforts are also being made to ensure optimum utilisation of whatever water Bihar was getting from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

“We are trying to convince the farmers that if they allow the irrigation water to be used in areas falling near the tail of canals first then the optimum utilisation of the Sone water for irrigation purpose would be possible,” he said.

He said the water resources department officials and the district administration concerned too have been asked to put effective check on unauthorised use of the canal water.

Sharing information about the suggestions put forward by participants in the meeting, Choudhary said some of them favoured the abolition of water user groups claiming that their members do not allow the judicious use of available water in the Sone canal system.

“We would look into the suggestion,” said the minister.

He said all the suggestions put forward by people’s representatives have been put on record and the department would look into the possible actions that could be taken.

Sone is one of the largest distributaries of Ganga. It originates in Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, and joins the Ganga just north of Patna.