The recurring floods that devastate the States of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and the severe draught leading to suicide by thousands of farmers in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka due to crop failure on an yearly basis is all set to be part of history. The Narendra Modi–led National Democratic Alliance Government is working overtime to implement the project to interlink the major Indian rivers as per the Supreme Court verdict of 2002.
The Ministry of Water Resources, for the first time, has made it known that the works to interlink the rivers are progressing smoothly in a letter addressed to a senior DMK leader in Chennai.
India could be the only place in the world to experience simultaneous floods and draught at different regions all at the same time. The National Water Development Agency under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has prepared a detailed project report to transfer the flood waters of one region to water starved regions through a network of canals to address the issue of floods and draughts.
According to a communication by KP Gupta, director (technical), the work of interlinking the rivers of the country has been included as a high priority item under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) drawn out by the Modi Government.
The Supreme Court had ordered in 2002 itself that all major rivers in the country should be interlinked so that the simultaneous floods and draught ravaging the country could be resolved once and for ever. The Then NDA Government headed by AB Vajpayee had constituted a Special Task Force under the chairmanship of Suresh Prabhu, the present Union Railway Minister, to prepare an action plan and feasibility report for the mega project. Though, Prabhu had submitted a detailed feasibility report in the time frame set by Vajpayee Government, the NDA Government lost the 2004 lok Sabha election and the report submitted by Prabhu was given a silent burial.
The UPA Government led by the Congress was against the project to interlink the rivers. Rahul Gandhi, the vice-president of the Congress and the CPI(M), one of the principal constituent of the UPA were totally against the project. While Rahul declared that interlinking of rivers would lead to ecological disaster, the CPI(M) declared that the project was not feasible. For ten years from 2004, the Prabhu Committee report remained unattended and unheeded.
With Modi becoming the Prime Minister in 2014, a National Perspective Plan was prepared and the project to interlink the country’s rivers was given priority. In his first address to the first Session of the 14th lok Sabha, then President Pranab Mukherjee declared that Interlinking of Rivers would be one of the top priorities of his Government. But the Congress and the CPI(M) voted against the move and declared that the project was against the federalism mentioned in the Constitution.
According to Gupta, a special committee has been has been constituted in 2014 itself by the Modi Government for carrying out the inter linking of rivers programme. The committee has held 13 meetings till now. A Task Force for interlinking the rivers too has been set up by the Government of India under the chairmanship of BN Navalawala, chef advisor, Ministry of water resources. “The STF has held seven meetings so far. The Ken-Betwa link for which statutory clearances have been obtained will soon be taken up for implementation. Also other projects viz, Damanganga-Pinjal link, and Par-Tapi-Narmada link are in advanced stages of taking up for implementation,” said Gupta.
Once the major rivers in the country are interlinked, flood waters in major north Indian rivers would be transferred to water deficient rivers in the sour through a network of canals. “This is expected to resolve the perennial water shortage in Tamil Nadu which does not have a single major river of its own. The project would be a crown on the Modi Government,” said KS Radhakrishnan, senior DMK leader who has been fighting for the implementation of the project.
Besides resolving the flood and draught, the interlinking of rivers would lead to a spurt in the agricultural production and afforestation. “We will have three crops instead of the present single crop once the IlR is completed. This will also help us to generate 30,000 MW clean and green energy through mini and micro hydel projects,” said S Kalyanaraman, former executive, Asian Development Bank.