Bihar and Jharkhand sign MoU to resolve 25-year Sone River water dispute

Pact signed after decades of stalled talks

Bihar and Jharkhand on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on sharing the waters of the Sone River, ending a dispute that had persisted for 25 years. The agreement was formalised in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, Union Minister for Jal Shakti C R Patil, the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, the Union Home Secretary, and senior officials from the Government of India and both states present on the occasion.

According to The New Indian Express, Shah said the agreement resolved a long-standing water dispute in eastern India and would provide irrigation water to lakhs of farmers across large rural areas of Bihar and Jharkhand, besides ensuring drinking water supplies. He described the resolution as an excellent example of the 'Team Bharat' vision and cooperative federalism championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and noted that this was the fourth water-sharing agreement reached between states this year.

The pact, as reported by The Indian Express, allocates 5.75 million acre-feet (MAF) of Sone water to Bihar and 2 MAF to Jharkhand. Negotiations had dragged on for over two decades, repeatedly stalling over reservoir height, land submergence, and volumetric splits. While various inter-state committees attempted mediation, talks rarely reached the Chief Minister level, with differing political alliances in power across the two states also delaying an agreement until the current leadership resolved to break the stalemate.

Key provisions and infrastructure

The agreement clears the path for the full operation of the Indrapuri Barrage—also called the Indrapuri Dam or Sone Barrage—across the Sone River in Rohtas district, near Dehri-on-Sone about 5 km upstream. The barrage sits close to the border connecting Jharkhand's northern districts of Garhwa and Palamu. Built in the late 1960s, it serves as a primary diversion structure supplying water to the extensive Sone Canal network, which irrigates the surrounding Shahabad agricultural belt covering Rohtas, Bhojpur, Buxar, and Kaimur districts.

Under the pact, Bihar will receive additional water from the barrage to irrigate local farmland. In turn, Jharkhand agreed to specified reservoir water levels to minimise land submergence, backed by rehabilitation provisions. The agreement guarantees critical irrigation supplies to South Bihar—including Rohtas, Bhojpur, and Aurangabad—while enabling new canal networks in the drought-prone Palamu and Garhwa districts of Jharkhand. Shah said the agreement would ensure adequate water for drinking and irrigation for a large population across Bihar's districts of Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Arwal, Gaya and Patna, and would also make water available for irrigation and drinking in Jharkhand's Palamu, Garhwa and other regions.

Role of central institutions

The Ministry of Jal Shakti presided over the finalisation of the pact, with Chief Ministers Choudhary and Soren playing key roles. The Central Water Commission (CWC) provided technical frameworks, hydrology studies, and modified dam-height specifications acceptable to both states, according to The Indian Express. The CWC's intervention was credited with motivating both governments to prioritise a resolution to secure long-term irrigation guarantees for their agrarian regions.

Shah's remarks emphasised the central government's role in facilitating the agreement, linking it to a broader push for interstate cooperation on water resources. The pact marks the latest in a series of water-sharing accords between states this year, as per his statement.