Patna: The nearly two-and-a-half-decade-long dispute between Bihar and Jharkhand over the distribution of the water of Sone River has finally come to an end.
Bihar cabinet on Tuesday approved the draft of an agreement in a meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar. The agreement will be signed by chief secretaries of both Bihar and Jharkhand soon. Bihar government has also given formal information to the central government in this regard.
As per the agreement, Bihar will receive 5.75 million-acre feet (MAF) of water while Jharkhand will get 2 MAF from the total 7.75 MAF allotted to undivided Bihar under the Bansagar Accord of 1973 between the two states and Madhya Pradesh. The breakthrough in the matter came during the meeting between both sides at the Eastern Zonal Council (EZC) meeting chaired by union home minister Amit Shah on July 10, 2025.
“The cabinet has approved the draft of the agreement issued by the Central Water Commission as it will pave the way for the construction of the Indrapuri reservoir,” state cabinet secretariat department additional chief secretary Arvind Kumar Chaudhary said.
The Bansagar dam is on the Sone river in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. It is a multipurpose hydroelectric project aimed at irrigation, flood control and generation of around 425MW of power.
Also Watch:
The Sone is a perennial river originating from the Amarkantak hills in Madhya Pradesh. It is a southern tributary of the Ganga and flows through a 784km course across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar to join it at Koilwar near Patna. Jharkhand, since its formation in 2000, had been demanding the distribution of Sone water between the two states.
With the resolution of the dispute between the two states, decks have also been cleared for the construction of the Indrapuri reservoir on the Sone. This reservoir would be constructed between Kadwan in Garhwa district of Jharkhand and Matiwan in Rohtas district of Bihar. It will strengthen irrigation facilities via the Sone river canal system in Bihar, and will benefit eight districts including Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Patna, Gaya and Arwal.
