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Centre striving for consensus on linking of rivers: Minister

– Photo: T. Singaravelou

lauding good work: Union Minister of Water Resources Saifuddin Soz presenting an award at the 12th National Water Convention in Puducherry on Thursday. Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy (left) is in the picture.

PUDUCHERRY: Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz on Thursday denied that the Centre had put linking of rivers on the backburner and said the focus was on five peninsular links.

The Government was pressing ahead with its efforts at evolving a consensus, he said, inaugurating a two-day 12th National Water Convention organised here by the National Water Development Agency and the Public Works Department of the Puducherry Government.

Mr. Soz said the Agency had done commendable work, preparing feasibility reports for 30 water transfer links, including 16 in the peninsular component. As for the Himalayan component, the chances of good discussions with Nepal on mutually advantageous projects were bright with that country turning a democracy.

He said of the five links that were on the anvil, the detailed project report was being prepared for the Ken-Betwa link after a memorandum of understanding was signed by the Centre, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The Parbati-Kalisind-Chambal link involving Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; the Par-Tapi-Narmada and Damanganga-Pinjal links between Gujarat and Maharashtra; and the Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery link involving Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chattisgarh were the other major projects. If these five priority links were achieved, they would become a model for the whole world in linking of rivers, Mr. Soz said.

Responding to Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy’s plea, he said the Centre would take steps for the Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery-Pennar link that would help to solve the irrigational problems faced by Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Mr. Soz urged scientists and experts to engage themselves in “vigorous debate” on climatic change and global warming. Scientists and experts in the Indian Institutes of Technology and the government agencies, he said, had failed to pay enough attention to climatic change, though the country was in the forefront of discussions on the topic at international forums. Calling for a nationwide debate on climate change, he said efforts at water conservation came to naught, owing to this “catastrophe.”

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