Interlinking of Rivers in India

Part-1
Linking rivers, linking people.

Interbasin transfer of water represents a great challenge and opportunity for the country, says M S Menon

The proposal for interlinking the rivers in the country is getting international media attention, thanks to the delegates present at the recently held ‘Peoples World Water Forum’ and ‘World Socialist Forum’ in the country. Using weapons of mass disinformation, some of them reported to have attacked the proposal terming it as ‘destructive’ so that these nation bashers could appear as liberals to ingratiate themselves to a class of people inside and outside the country. Such a brazen approach betrays lack of preliminary understanding of the proposal and reflects callousness in raising concerns in international fora.
During the same time, but at a different venue, the President of India, addressing a galaxy of top scientists, intellectuals and experts commended the proposal stating that it would provide a solution to the perennial problems of floods and droughts in the country.
The main characteristic of India’s water resources is its uneven distribution in space and time leading to endemic and sporadic problems of floods and droughts. Two-third’s of the annually available water resource of 1950 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) is contributed by the Ganga- Brahmaputhra- Meghna (GBM) system, covering one-third of the country’s geographical area. Consequently, the remaining two-thirds of the country has to remain satisfied with the balance resource, and face scarcity while the GBM basin experiences floods. Hence if resource abundant rivers like the Brahmaputhra, the Ganga, etc. could be linked with the seasonal peninsular rivers, the available water resources could be optimally harnessed, and the miseries of recurring droughts and floods could be contained to a great extent.
Suggestions for the National Water Grid, ‘The Ganga –Cauvery Link’ were initially mooted in 1972 by Dr. K.L. Rao, then Union Minister for Irrigation and Power. Subsequently, many proposals were received by the Government for interlinking of rivers, notable among them being the ‘Garland Canal’ suggested by Capt. Dastur in 1974. However, all these proposals were found to be either prohibitively costly or not practical.
The continued onslaught of floods and droughts in the country prompted the Government of India to come out with the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers comprising two components, namely- ‘The Himalayan river component ‘ envisaging storages and interlinking canal systems to transfer surplus flows from the Himalayan rivers, and ‘ The Peninsular river component’ envisaging similar works to transfer surpluses from the Mahanadi, Godavari and West flowing rivers to drought- prone areas.
Accordingly, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) was set up in 1980 to study and suggest possible links. As per the studies, when fully implemented the mega project is estimated to bring an additional area of 35 million hectares under irrigation and generate additional power of 34000MW with an investment of Rs. 5,60,000 crore spread over 30 years. The proposal got a boost after the President of India, Prime Minister, Judges of the Supreme Court and many political leaders endorsed it as a preferred solution for combating recurring droughts in the country.
Subsequently, a taskforce headed by the former Union Energy Minister, Suresh Prabhu, was set up to devise a frame-work for implementing the project. While the scheme appealed to water-deficit states, water endowed regions were not in favour of diverting their surplus to needy basins. Hence the immediate task of Suresh Prabhu was to get consensus of these states for the proposal.
Criticism against the project came from environmental and social activists, cynics and self- appointed experts. According to some, instead of wasting time and money on this grandiose project, it is better to go for viable micro-level water harvesting alternatives to get similar benefits with small investments. Others see the destruction of cultures, communities and eco systems. Doubts have also been raised not only about the engineering feasibility of lifting the water across basins but also on issues of environmental impacts, resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced people, etc.
Criticism of the project has also come from some prophets of doom pointing out that the canal system under the project might become an open sewer garlanding the length and breadth of the country in the same manner as the works under the ‘Golden Quadrilateral Project’ converting the national highways into a network of conveyor belts of noxious emissions!
(The article is to be concluded)
(The Pioneer,dt.9th March,2004)