The long-delayed Kishau Multipurpose Project, a Rs150 billion dam initiative designed to enhance water availability across six northern Indian states, has cleared an important milestone after the central government and state authorities reached a consensus on the project’s implementation. The agreement was formalized at a signing ceremony in New Delhi attended by the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Haryana, along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Central to the project is the construction of a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Tons River, a significant tributary of the Yamuna River, located along the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border. The dam will create a reservoir with a live storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres (MCM). This storage will support multiple purposes, including irrigation, drinking and industrial water supply, hydroelectric power generation, and environmental flow augmentation to aid the Yamuna’s rehabilitation.
The reservoir is expected to irrigate roughly 97,000 hectares of farmland, benefiting agricultural districts across the participating states. Rajasthan and Delhi are set to be major beneficiaries under the revised water-sharing arrangement. Rajasthan, in particular, stands to gain substantially as the project's irrigation component addresses a longstanding issue. Despite being allocated 577 MCM under the 1994 Yamuna Water Agreement, Rajasthan had been unable to fully utilise its share for over three decades due to infrastructural limitations. The Kishau plan proposes transferring 124 MCM to Rajasthan’s drought-prone Shekhawati region—encompassing areas such as Churu, Sikar, and Jhunjhunu—via Haryana’s existing Hansi-Butana canal system and a network of underground pipelines. This allocation is intended to support drinking water, industrial use, and irrigation needs.
Delhi is also expected to benefit from increased water availability for long-term requirements. Under the new arrangement, most of Himachal Pradesh’s water entitlement related to the project will be redirected to Delhi and Rajasthan, with 95% allocated between them. This share will be distributed in a 75:25 ratio favoring Delhi. Himachal Pradesh will retain five percent for local purposes.
In addition to water supply, the Kishau project is projected to generate 660 megawatts (MW) of hydroelectric power, producing approximately 1,476 million units annually. The enhanced reservoir flows are also expected to contribute to revitalising the Yamuna by increasing its clean water discharge.
Funding for the project’s water components will come primarily from the central government, which has committed to financing 90% of the costs, with the participating states covering the remaining 10%. Following the signing of the agreement, the project will be submitted to the Union Cabinet for its final approval before construction can proceed.
The Kishau project has been in discussion since the early 1990s, stemming from the 1994 Upper Yamuna basin water-sharing agreement that mandated storage infrastructure to manage basin resources effectively. While two other major projects—Renuka Ji and Lakhwar—have already moved forward with signed agreements, Kishau had remained stalled due to interstate coordination challenges. The recent consensus achieved under Home Minister Amit Shah’s facilitation represents a significant step in advancing the third large storage project under the Upper Yamuna basin framework.