Decades of inter-state friction over the Sardar Sarovar Project moved closer to resolution on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, as the 15th meeting of the Review Committee of the Narmada Control Authority (RCNCA) formally approved a landmark MoU among Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel attended the meeting in New Delhi, chaired by Union Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Patil, while the chief ministers of the three other riparian states joined via video conference.

What the 15th RCNCA meeting actually decided

The centrepiece of the meeting was the formal approval of an MoU that addresses long-pending issues tied to the Sardar Sarovar Project — issues that have simmered since the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal delivered its final award in 1979 and the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) was constituted in 1980 to oversee implementation. CM Patel noted that the MoU had already been facilitated in the presence of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, and that today's RCNCA session gave it formal institutional endorsement.

Beyond the MoU, the meeting saw 'constructive discussion' on several Narmada-related subjects, with mutual understanding reached among all four states. Remaining issues, CM Patel indicated, would continue to be addressed through dialogue and cooperation — not litigation.

Why the Sardar Sarovar disputes ran so long

The Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river is one of India's largest multipurpose infrastructure projects, built to deliver irrigation water, drinking water, and hydropower to communities across four states — with Gujarat as its principal beneficiary. The 1979 Tribunal award allocated specific water shares to each state, but translating those allocations into on-ground operations produced decades of disputes: over submergence compensation, backwater effects, canal networks, and power sharing. The NCA forum became the primary arena for managing these tensions — and successive meetings have attempted, with varying success, to convert the Tribunal's mandate into working inter-state consensus.

'Cooperative federalism' lands on the ground

CM Patel framed the outcome explicitly through the language of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'cooperative federalism' doctrine — the idea that Centre-state and inter-state relationships should be built on mutual respect rather than competitive jostling. 'Sahkari Sanghavad ka mantra aaj dharatal par sakar ho raha hai' (The mantra of cooperative federalism is taking shape on the ground today), he wrote, describing the MoU as proof that even a sensitive and technically complex domain like water-sharing can yield unanimous solutions when political will aligns across governments.

The presence of four chief ministers — whether in person or on screen — alongside the Union Jal Shakti minister signals that this was not a routine procedural meeting. It was a calibrated show of political consensus on an issue that has, at various points, provoked protests, court petitions, and inter-state standoffs.

What farmers in four states are watching next

The immediate beneficiaries of any durable Narmada settlement are the millions of farmers and rural households across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra who depend on the river's waters for irrigation and drinking supply. The approved MoU clears a path — but the harder work of implementation now begins. Future NCA and RCNCA sessions will track whether canal networks get commissioned on schedule, whether water releases match agreed allocations, and whether the remaining unresolved subjects find the same consensual resolution this meeting demonstrated.

If the spirit of today's agreement holds, Sardar Sarovar's long-promised benefits could finally reach the fields and taps it was designed to serve. That is the benchmark against which this MoU will ultimately be judged.