New Delhi, July 8 -- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday signed an agreement to resolve long-pending payment disputes linked to the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada river, marking a major step towards settling decades-old interstate issues over the sharing of project costs. The agreement, according to a government release, was signed in New Delhi in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah and Union jal shakti minister CR Patil along with the chief ministers of all four states. The release quoted Shah as saying that the issue of pending payments under the Narmada Award had remained unresolved for years and had now been settled amicably through consensus among the beneficiary states. Shah described the agreement as an example of cooperative federalism, under which the Centre and states work together to resolve inter-state disputes. according to the release....