The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : The pros and cons of linking rivers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

The pros and cons of linking rivers

Alladi Jayasri

BANGALORE: The ambitious project on interlinking the major rivers in India to harness their waters in a more equitable manner was launched in 2002, and the first "link" between Ken and Betwa rivers in Madhya Pradesh has been completed. But it remains a flash point between those who support the idea and those who are oppose it.

The first link was constructed by the National Democratic Government, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, following a Supreme Court directive to implement the project within 10 years.

But the plans for the second link, connecting the Parvati, the Kalisindh and the Chambal in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan was put on the backburner following protests from the local people, activists and other stakeholders. A two-day seminar on "interlinking of rivers" organised by Christ College and Fredskorpset India Partners Network, which began here on Tuesday, is discussing related issues.

The objective of interlinking rivers is to achieve "water-balance" or to divert water from flood-prone regions to areas that are chronically in drought. But the critics say this is nothing but interfering with nature.

The idea has been in the air for nearly a century, and is mostly used to deflect attention from unsustainable water management policy, they say. Now the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance Government has decided to give fresh life to the idea on the grounds that it will be the perfect solution for balancing drought and flood. But this could only be an invitation to "unprecedented ecological and demographical damage", its detractors say.

For peninsular India, the National Water Development Agency has considered 16 possible links in major river basins, including the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna, the Pennar, the Cauvery, the Vaigai, and the West-flowing rivers of Kerala, Karnataka, north of Mumbai, and south of Tapi, and the southern tributaries of the Yamuna, which were studied to establish water surplus and deficit regions. Feasibility studies for seven of these links suggest that interlinking is technically possible and economically viable.

A.C. Kamaraj, member of the Expert Committee on Interlinking of Rivers, points out in his paper that the cost of flood damage during 2005-06 was estimated at Rs. 77,000 crore. Many States are not in favour of the interlinking of rivers, as proposed by the National Water Development Agency, as they fear that their share of water will be taken away, he argues. He proposes a "water grid" similar to the power grid so that water can be shared between the States without any friction.

Balakrishna Gowda, Department of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, strikes a warning note when he says that the country could be heading towards disaster by contemplating such projects. "The vagaries of nature, such as drought, floods, have forced policymakers to take decisions that are not in tune with nature's law," Prof. Balakrishna Gowda says.

India might have only 2.4 per cent of the world's land area but it sustains eight per cent of the world's biodiversity, and altering the flow of rivers is not the best way to protect the forests which are the sources of water, he points out.

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