MANGALORE: Water Resources Minister K.S. Eshwarappa has said that an expert committee will be set up to study the environmental, technical and economic feasibility of the river linking project for Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

Addressing presspersons after attending the second round meeting with experts here on Wednesday, Mr. Eshwarappa said on paper the project looked good, but only an expert committee could decide on it.

Mr. Eshwarappa said a lot of work had gone into the conception of the project called "Sowbhagya Sanjivini."

It attempts to link all the 13 rivers in the two districts, including Nethravati (Dakshina Kannada) and Swarna (Udupi) through a network of canals which would re-distribute water to all the villages, towns and cities in the two districts, basically for power generation, drinking water and for irrigation.

He said the project would cost around Rs. 5,000 crore. He said Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who holds the Finance portfolio, had already promised him that funds would not be a problem for the project and said that the Government was keen to take up the project after the expert committee gave the report. On the Rastogi committee report that had rejected the earlier schemes on river linking and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute discouraging plans to impound the river water and prevent it from joining the sea, Mr. Eshwarappa said that was the case with many projects in the State, including the Bhadra river project where there were a total of nine reports, each giving a different view.

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