India News | Centre Has No Plans to Shift GFCC Headquarters out of Bihar: Minister

Patna, Feb 21 (PTI) The Bihar government said on Sunday that the Centre has no plan to shift the Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC) headquarters to Uttar Pradesh.

Bihar Water Resources Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said he spoke to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat over reports of shifting the GFCC head office from Patna to Lucknow.

"Shekhawat said there is no such plan in the ministry," Jha told PTI.

Jha said he took up the matter with the Union minister in the backdrop of reports in a section of the press, quoting GFCC chairman that the headquarters will be shifted to Lucknow in two months.

The GFCC, which comes under the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, has its headquarters at Patna since 1972. The commission deals with flood and its management in the Ganga basin states.

The Ganga basin states are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

Jha said he drew the attention of the Union minister to the fact that 80 per cent area under the jurisdiction of the commission is in Bihar, which sees flood almost every year. Further, UP already has a directorate office of the GFCC.

Shekhawat categorically dismissed any proposal of shifting the headquarters, he added.

Jha said Shekhawat also promised to look into the chairman's assertion regarding the shifting of the headquarters.

The state minister noted that the GFCC chairman has been showing "discouraging approach" towards proposals send to the commission by the state on which Shekhawat "promised to have a look".

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