The Hindu : 'Interlinking rivers not a wise idea'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 20, 2003

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National

'Interlinking rivers not a wise idea'

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi Nov. 19. The social activists, Medha Patkar and Rajinder Singh, today voiced people's opposition to the Centre's project on interlinking rivers, during a panel discussion on "Water Crisis: Looking Beyond'' which had the Chairman of the Task Force on Interlinking rivers, Suresh Prabhu, in the chair. At the end of the three hour-long discussion, there were several angry people in the audience who advised Mr. Prabhu "not to play God."

On his part, Mr. Prabhu said that only those of the 30 proposed links which would be found feasible by the variety of committees set up under the Task Force would be taken up. He said that if the Centre and the States agreed, every feasibility report "could be'' posted on the interlinking website.

It was the first time that the Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, was seen sharing a platform with Mr. Prabhu on an issue that is fast turning controversial. Ms. Patkar said the Government focussed on centralised policies that took care of the big cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, "that were the biggest usurpers of water, at the cost of riverine populations who are always called upon to make sacrifices.''

Speaking on "Micro level solutions — the extent of reach and potential," she said that small was more just, sustainable and manageable. It was a myth to suggest that urbanised, centralised planning took care of every inch of land and every drop of water the way decentralised planning with people's involvement did. She said that decentralised needs required decentralised planning and management. A mammoth river-linking project on which there were no feasibility studies, no detailed project reports, no realistic estimates of costs was being pushed ahead, because of foreign capital. Unless all studies were done there could not even be an estimate of the benefits it would bring.

And the returns had to be not just economical, but the return to the nature of the five elements — water, earth, air, fire and ether. This project entailed the loss of 8,000 sq.km, not to think of the rich fertile land and forests which would be lost forever and the millions of people who would be uprooted, she added.

Giving the example of a single project — the Sardar Sarovar Project — Ms. Patkar said that when it was conceived, the number of families to be displaced was officially estimated at 7,000. Today, the official figure was 43,000 when the project was under construction and not implementation. It was wrong to allege that the SSP was delayed because of a people's movement. "What about the over 200 water projects at an estimated cost of Rs. 80,000 crores that are not even half way through for years? Why have they not been completed, instead of coming up with a plan to spend another Rs. 560,000 crores for linking rivers?''

Mr. Rajinder Singh of the Tarun Bharat Sangh, said that by rekindling the Aravari river in Alwar district they had successfully shown that community-driven planning and management was possible. "We are undertaking similar projects in other parts of the country. Instead of linking rivers the need is to link people. Interlinking rivers is linking of pollution and corruption.''

B. Sengupta of the Central Pollution Control Board said that interlinking was required to dilute the polluted river waters that were low in oxygen and high in pesticides.

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