Attach as much importance to river-linking as to the National Mission for Clean Ganga. This was the message that Tamil Nadu delivered to the Centre at the inaugural meeting of the special committee for interlinking of rivers held in New Delhi on Friday.
The committee, constituted a month ago and headed by Union Minister for Water Resource, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharati, comprises 11 States, including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
Tamil Nadu’s stand is that building consensus and executing agreements among the States would take a long time, leading to a delay in the benefits flowing from the project. The Centre should take up the programme under the National Perspective Plan in view of the Supreme Court’s directive that the interlinking be expedited. Otherwise, the programme would be a non-starter, according to a government official.
All along, Tamil Nadu has been a strong votary of the linking of rivers because it is one of the water-deficit States. It has harnessed water potential to the maximum. In view of its exposure to the vagaries of the southwest and northeast monsoons, Tamil Nadu has been calling for the early implementation of the two links: Mahanadhi-Godavari-Krishna-Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar and Pamba-Achankoil-Vaippar.
The State has said that pending finalisation and execution of the entire component of the first link, the Centre should extend financial assistance, including the cost for land acquisition for implementing the Cauvery (Kattalai)-Vaigai-Gundar component. This will help to divert floodwaters to the deficit areas.
On the Pamba-Achankoil-Vaippar link, the State urged the special committee to ask the National Water Development Agency to prepare the detailed project report on a priority basis.
Pointing out that four proposals of the State for linking intra-State rivers were not favourably considered by the previous government, the State’s representative wanted the Centre to approve them. Tamil Nadu was represented by M. Saikumar, Principal Secretary, Public Works.