Gandak, which originates in Nepal, feeds the Gandak canal and lakhs of farmers in the four eastern UP districts of Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Maharajganj and Deoria and some areas in Bihar solely depend on it for irrigation.
"The Nepal government has stopped the flow of water into the river and hence the canal is running dry affecting agriculture in UP and Bihar," BJP UP unit president Ramapati Ram Tripathi said addressing newspersons here today.
He alleged that the Centre was neglecting the national interest under pressure from the Left, since the Nepal government is dominated by the Left-wing parties.
"We want the Mayawati government in UP to immediately ask the Centre to engage the Nepal regime in talks and facilitate the release of water in Gandak river as agreed between the two countries," he maintained.
Castigating the state government, Tripathi maintained that several crore rupees had been siphoned off in the special budget allocated for filling ponds in the drought-hit region of Bundelkhand.
"BJP demands the white paper on the matter, since it is alleged that some UP ministers are also involved in the scandal. A probe must be conducted and the guilty brought to books at the earliest," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that about Rs 2,500 crore of sugarcane farmers' dues in UP was still pending despite the Supreme Court asking the state to clear the dues by June 30.
"If the cane-growers dues are not cleared by June 30, BJP would launch an agitation both inside the house and on streets," Tripathi warned.
