States' News

Sone River Water Pact

September 3 , 2026 7 hrs 0 min 7 0

Bihar and Jharkhand signed an MoU to share Sone River water, resolving a nearly 25-year-old inter-State water dispute.
Sone River is an important right-bank tributary of the Ganga; it originates in the Maikal highlands near Amarkantak and finally joins the Ganga in Bihar near Patna.
It flows through Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, with important tributaries including Rihand, Kanhar and North Koel.
The Indrapuri Barrage (Sone Barrage) in Rohtas district, Bihar, is an important irrigation structure on the river and was commissioned in 1968.
The new agreement will support irrigation and drinking-water needs in Bihar’s Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Arwal, Gaya and Patna, and Jharkhand’s Palamu, Garhwa and other regions.