The construction of the Ravi-Tawi Irrigation Canal project from Basantpur to upstream of Ranjit Sagar Dam in Kathua district has become the victim of political differences between two Cabinet ministers, with the state government deciding to seek a fresh legal opinion on the project from the Law Ministry. Official sources said the project, which was shelved after heated arguments between Minister for Finance Abdul Rahim Rather and Minister for Irrigation and Flood Control Taj Mohiuddin during the Cabinet meeting here on Monday, could end in a fiasco as it had exposed chinks in the armour of the alliance partners. Rather belongs to the NC while Taj is a Congress minister. “The project has been put on hold following political rivalry between the two ministers. The Law Ministry would now seek a legal opinion from the Solicitor General and Attorney General of India, as sought by the Finance Minister, prior to the start of work on the project,” a source said. The sources said the project, which would mitigate the irrigation problem of thousands of farmers in the Kandi belt, was unlikely to be an immediate reality as both the ministers were at loggerheads. Taj, who was in New Delhi, told The Tribune that the Finance Minister had been opposing the project from the beginning. “The project has been shelved because of the Finance Minister’s ego. When he (Rather) was the Law Minister, he had then raised objections over the project. After the legal opinion from the former Solicitor General and former Chief Justice BN Khare, the objections raised by the Law Ministry were cleared so that the state didn’t had to face legal impediments from the Punjab Government while executing the project. Despite all efforts, he is still creating hurdles,” Taj said. He hoped that the Law Ministry would soon seek a legal opinion from the Solicitor General and Attorney General of India and the matter would be sorted out in the next 15 days. “We will again bring the project to the Cabinet and it will definitely be a reality in future. The Punjab Government has terminated the agreement signed with Jammu and Kashmir. We can now go ahead with the construction work on the canal,” the minister said. Official sources said though the Irrigation Department had received the initial amount for the project to be completed with an estimated cost of nearly Rs 600 crore, it was still waiting for the financial concurrence from the Finance Department. The Finance Department, while raising some queries, had sought a fresh legal opinion from the Solicitor General and Attorney General of India to avoid any legal problems while executing the project. The Finance Minister was not available for comment. In February 2010, the Cabinet had accorded in principal an approval to the construction of a canal from Basantpur to upstream of Ranjit Sagar Dam near Satwain village in Kathua district. Jammu and Kashmir is being denied its 20 per cent share of power and 1100 cusecs of water from the dam by the Punjab Government. The project holds great significance for southern districts of the state as it would irrigate nearly 1.33 lakh acres in three districts of Jammu province for which the 82 km canal and 500 km tributaries were constructed 30 years ago.