The Hindu : 'Governance vital in water-related issues'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 18, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

'Governance vital in water-related issues'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI APRIL 16. The importance of governance in water-related issues was among the points raised by participants at a media workshop here on Wednesday.

A. Vaidyanathan, Professor Emeritus of the Madras Institute of Development Studies said mis-governance of the water sector had gone unnoticed though people suffered because of it. "The media should pay much greater attention to it".

Referring to the observation of the Chairman of the Task Force on Inter-linking of Rivers, Suresh Prabhu, on different studies on the subject, Prof. Vaidyanathan said that reports of such studies should have been made public.

Ramasamy Sakthivadivel of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, said the scenario of numerous organisations looking after the water sector in one river basin had to be changed completely as this arrangement did not allow a holistic approach.

The Director of the Water Technology Centre in the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore, K. Palanisamy, said Tamil Nadu, like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, had a large number of tanks. Though the tanks were linked to each other, the chain in most of them had broken down and this should be restored. As a top-down approach in the sector had only resulted in the failure of several projects, a bottoms-up approach should be adopted.

The Chief Engineer of the National Water Development Agency, M. Elangovan, said Tamil Nadu would receive a net quantum of 275 tmcft if the inter-linking of rivers became a reality. Of this, the Cauvery delta would get 56 tmcft. However, he said only feasibility studies were on and all of them would be completed by 2005. It would take one more year for the preparation of detailed project reports.

The Chairman of the Madurai-based National Waterways Development Council, A.C. Kamaraj, suggested the formation of a navigation canal, connecting all major rivers and envisaging the construction of Himalayan, Central and Southern Waterways. This would not require pumping of water as the canal would be located at an even height. Moreover, water transfer was possible in either direction and, as such, no State was a "giver State", he added.

Ramanie Jayatilaka, Head of Sociology Department in the University of Colombo, giving the findings of a study on the impact of a water supply project in two towns near Colombo, referred to the importance of awareness creation on environmental hazards.

Sumita Dasgupta of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said rainwater harvesting (RWH) made a difference in drought-prone parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Her organisation would come out with a website, providing the database on RWH practices and practitioners.

P.C. Kesavan, Executive Director of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), which hosted the workshop, called for a community-based movement in the water sector.

G. Venkataramani, Agriculture Correspondent of The Hindu said the involvement of children in water-related issues was a notable feature of the Third World Water Forum held recently in Japan.

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