Indian river Interinking Project and its effect on the Subcontinent

[A.V.]

india with its vast landmass has always remained a agricultural country but shortage or excess of the only defining factor <water> has been the curse over the ages , in view of that a project to connect about 30 big rivers & canals has been started under the supervision of International Water Management Board. This work has been named National River Link Project.

The only aim of this largest river link project of the world is to make use of the water that goes waste in flood & with the help of this River Link Project assure good use by make available water to those areas that face drought & acute scarcity of water.

although this is a very nobel and large scale projects many questions have popped up
1.what would be the effect of the over all ecology?
2.how about the funding of such a big project is the IMF or world bank oan the only way to go?
3. what does indias neighbours think about the project ?
4. will the project be fruitful considering the cost ratio?
5. all your ideas and views on the whole issue

In India, the rivers that are proposed to be linked with each other, work on many of them has been started. Some of the main projects are such as Mahanadi has to be linked with Godawari & the river Inchampalli is to be linked with Nagarjun Sagar & Pulichintala. Somasila River is to be linked with Nagarjun Sagar & Grand Anicut Link. To Link of Penar River to Almati & Siriselam, to link Yamuna river with Sharda & Rajasthan & Rajasthan is to be linked with Sabarmati. Similarly Son bairaj is to be linked with Chunar & Ganges in the South, to link Ganges River to Damodar River & Swarn Rekha River to Mahanadi. In the same way, Farkka is proposed to be linked to Sundervan & Jogichhopa. Linking of Ganges-Gandak, Ghagra-Yamuna, Kosi-Ghagra & Kosi-Mechi links are also proposed. Besides this Netravati-Hemwati Project, Pamba-Anchankovil viper link is also proposed. Similarly Daman Ganges to Pinjal, Bedati to Varda, Parvati to Kali Sindh & Chambal and Parvati, Tapi & Narmada links are also proposed.

 

[Sabir]

One student of Jadavpur University wrote to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam (he was the President then) about the disaster that might happen due to linking the major rivers. As the slope of Indian terrain is from north-west to south-east, the region in south-east will be affected by flood and areas in north-west will have less water.Because water flows as per the slope of the ground.(I am just mentioning what I can remember, may be not exactly what he/she wrote). so while planning they must be careful about it. How a project can affect ecology in long term is often misunderstood in preliminary surveys.

 

[bengalraider]

The National River linking project or NRLP:

India has many rivers however most of these are underutilized as they are seasonal, the NRLP envisages a network of 30 canals and approximately 3000 storages connecting 37 himalayan and peninsular river to form a mega grid that can be used to transfer water as and when needed from peninsular india to north india and vice-versa, such anetwork has wide implications in agriculture and industry as the availability of water shall turn previously non-arable land suitable for agriculture it shall also feed the rising water demand of india's teeming cities and the industries they support, if required many of the cnals can also be built deep and wide enough as to be used for navigation this opens up the possibility of cheap and mass transport of freight and passengers, i am attaching a pdf on the river linking project.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

A good example of river linking projects is the state of Gujurat. The river linking project in gujurat connected 20 rivers, it has helped to bring water all across gujurat areas where there was too much or too little water were evened out, and it has helped many farmers across gujurat with their cultivation..

 

[Sabir]

Indian River-link Project Map

 

[Vyom]

Supreme Court seeks report on interlinking of rivers

The Supreme Court on Monday wanted to know about the work done by the Centre on the project for interlinking of rivers and asked the amicus curie to file a short note on it.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia, asked advocate Ranjit Kumar, who is assisting the court, to file the report within a week.

Earlier, the apex court had said that it would not favour interlinking of rivers if it causes huge a financial burden on the Centre and asked for a report on its costs."My concern is only with what is the financial liability of the project. We want to make it clear that we would not pass order on it if it causes huge financial burden," the bench had said.

The river interlinking project was the brainchild of the NDA government and in October 2002, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had formed a task force to get the project going against the backdrop of the acute drought that year.

The task force had submitted a report recommending division of the project into two —— the Peninsular component and the Himalayan component.

The Peninsular component —— involving the rivers in southern India —— envisaged developing a 'Southern Water Grid' with 16 linkages. This component included diversion of the surplus waters of the Mahanadi and Godavari to the Pennar, Krishna, Vaigai and Cauvery.

The task force had also mooted the diversion of the west-flowing rivers of Kerala and Karnataka to the east, the interlinking of small rivers that flow along the west coast, south of Tapi and north of Mumbai and interlinking of the southern tributaries of the river Yamuna.

The Himalayan component envisaged building storage reservoirs on the Ganga and the Brahmaputra and their main tributaries both in India and Nepal in order to conserve the waters during the monsoon for irrigation and generation of hydro-power, besides checking floods.

The Hindu : News / National : Supreme Court seeks report on interlinking of rivers
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[trackwhack]

They have done nothing. This project has not moved from the drawing board for 50 years!! This can provide the single biggest boost to agricultural productivity in India, not only by incresing output in the deccan and south but by saving crops from floods in the north and Gangetic plains. So far there have been studies on top of studies. They have even setup three different websites on this project but not one naya paisa worth of work has been done.

 

[Vyom]

They have done nothing. This project has not moved from the drawing board for 50 years!! This can provide the single biggest boost to agricultural productivity in India, not only by incresing output in the deccan and south but by saving crops from floods in the north and Gangetic plains. So far there have been studies on top of studies. They have even setup three different websites on this project but not one naya paisa worth of work has been done.

It is no small task. As the SC has mentioned, it will pass an order only if it sees that it is financially liable. I do agree though that this is not something that the SC is meant to do. But at last, after this judgement we can expect some head way.

 

[trackwhack]

I'm not denying the enormity of the task. Just that the project was kicked off about 50 years ago and still nothing has happened.

 

[tiranga]

This is a very beautiful and important project, it will take atleast 15-20 years to get compete...

 

[Zebra]

It is no small task. As the SC has mentioned, it will pass an order only if it sees that it is financially liable. I do agree though that this is not something that the SC is meant to do. But at last, after this judgement we can expect some head way.

In 2003 , I tried to figure out , at that time it looks like : the money spent (per year) , for 18 years on flood and drought affected areas = the cost of the project that will interlinking the rivers of India .

(sorry can't find that papers now .)
.

 

[Sridhar]

SC asks Centre to implement interlinking of rivers project

PTI | Feb 27, 2012, 12.21PM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to implement the ambitious interlinking of rivers project in a time-bound manner and appointed a high-powered committee for its planning and implementation.

Observing that the project has already been delayed resulting in an increase in its cost, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said the Centre and the concerned state governments should participate for its "effective" implementation "in a time bound manner".

The bench, also comprising justices Swatanter Kumar and A K Patnaik, appointed a high-powered committee comprising of representatives of various government departments, ministries, experts and social activists to chart out and execute the project.

The committee will be comprising of Union Minister of Water Resources, its secretary, Secretary of Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and four expert members appointed by Water Resources Ministry, Finance Ministry, Planning Commission and MoEF.

Representatives from state governments, two social activists and senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who has been assisting the court in the case, will also be members of the committee.

"We direct the Union of India to forthwith constitute a committee for interlinking of rivers," the bench said, adding "we direct the committee to implement the project".

"The committee shall plan for implementation of the project," the bench said, adding the delay has already resulted in an increase in the cost of the project.

The river interlinking project was the brainchild of the NDA government and in October, 2002, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had formed a task force to get the project going against the backdrop of the acute drought that year

SC directs Centre to implement interlinking of rivers project - The Times of India

 

[mayfair]

Do not tinker with the nature without understanding the ramifications. These rivers are not just waterways, but self-contained ecosystems- harbouring different species of flora and fauna and I believe even the water pH should be different.

This is not like rivers emptying into the sea, as association honed over eons and the ecosystem given time to adapt and thrive. Indiscriminate diversion of river waters will have some serious consequences.

 

[Bangalorean]

What do you think about it? I have heard conflicting opinions about it.

I have heard some people praise the project as something that will transform the face of India - both agricultural and in things like city water supplies.

And I have heard some people scoff at it, calling it pie-in-the-sky daydreaming which will never be implemented.

Some people say that it is extremely dangerous to tamper with nature at such a huge level.

Some states are strongly in favour of this, and some are completely opposed to it.

I want to hear from people who have more knowledge on this topic. What exactly does it involve, what are the real benefits of it? Those who are against it - why are you against it? Can any via-media solution be reached, that would satisfy both parties?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

It can be implemented but not right now, Reason is pollution created by Humans..

If there is a River nearby city waste will be dumped there first, Major industries will release all toxic in waters..

We know who things are done here, the idea is good it just not now or near future..


In Punjab there are pleantly of canals but on smaller scale, the do there part coz they are small, But if anything is large is targeted for garbage dumping zone..

 

[trackwhack]

It is the single most important project after nuclear expansion that is critical for long term food security in our country. There will be several disadvantages but they pale in significance compared to the advantages. Look at our map. The Deccan is starved of water. And the Northern plains of Bihar, UP and West Bengal are flooded every year killing hundreds and destroying millions of hectares of cropland. The aluvial silt which is critical to the northern plains, can still be salvaged by controlled flooding, which in the long term will result in less soil erosion and richer farmlands.

Our stupid government has been studying this for 5 decades without doing anything!

 

[trackwhack]

It can be implemented but not right now, Reason is pollution created by Humans..

If there is a River nearby city waste will be dumped there first, Major industries will release all toxic in waters..

We know who things are done here, the idea is good it just not now or near future..


In Punjab there are pleantly of canals but on smaller scale, the do there part coz they are small, But if anything is large is targeted for garbage dumping zone..

Cleaning up our rivers is not a big investment Kunal. We dont need to dredge rivers. Two cycles of monsoons will clean out all the dirt in our rivers. What we need to do is to divert the sewage and industrial waste to treatment plants. 80% of our industrial and urban sewage can be treated and not touch rivers with an investment of under $10 billion.

 

[SPIEZ]

We can work on something similar on a small scale for example completely enclosed canals. Chennai gets water from Krishna river this way.
also storage of excess water, and purification of water is another important issue.

I believe states will quarrel over the issue of sharing the water.

 

[SPIEZ]

Cleaning up our rivers is not a big investment Kunal. We dont need to dredge rivers. Two cycles of monsoons will clean out all the dirt in our rivers. What we need to do is to divert the sewage and industrial waste to treatment plants. 80% of our industrial and urban sewage can be treated and not touch rivers with an investment of under $10 billion.

You are right on that count. The monsoons managed to clean even Coovam. Treatment of sewage and industrial effluents will need research and carefull investments.

 

[Darth Vader]

I have no idea how far this has progressd though i have been hearing bout this for a long time.This project if successfuly completd will solve most of indias water problems but this requires serious planning without causing harm in the long run.