The Supreme Court's direction to the Centre to constitute a committee to pursue the plan of linking India's rivers, if implemented, will prove dangerous to the ecosystem, as pointed out in the editorial “Chasing a mirage” (March 1). Redirecting the flow of river water is not an easy task. It will give rise to environmental instability, besides rehabilitation issues. Kerala will no longer remain ‘God's own country' if the Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar link materialises. The flora and fauna enriched by the Pamba will vanish.
B. Prabha,Varkala
The idea of linking rivers is impractical in the existing scenario. Instead, the State governments and people can focus on small steps at the local level to conserve water. Some years ago, the Tamil Nadu government made it mandatory for all buildings to put in place infrastructure for rainwater harvesting. It was a wonderful step.
Periodical maintenance of rivers, tanks, ponds and other water bodies, and a solid plan to store excess rainwater will help in a big way. These steps are economical, eco-friendly and effective in water management. Let us think locally, and act locally!
R.K. Jacob,Tirunelveli
The geological misadventure is uncalled for. Besides resulting in huge expenses, the linking of rivers will lead to the displacement of huge populations. Looking at the track record of the States in rehabilitating displaced people — in projects such as the Sardar Sarovar Dam construction — we can only be cynical of government ability to resettle and rehabilitate the affected.
Trying to interlink rivers through huge terrains, regardless of the ecological consequences, is a fantasy. The best and most feasible way of tackling the problem of lopsided distribution of water would be to nationalise river waters and enable a judicious sharing among the States.
K.S. Mani,Chennai
The Supreme Court has brought into focus a decade-old project. The interlinking of the country's river system to transfer surplus water to deficit areas through a network of canals was first conceived by the visionary engineer, K.L. Rao, who served in the Cabinets of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.
True, it is easy to join rivers on paper. But, it is also true that most of India's water resource is drained into the sea. Besides helping irrigation, linking rivers will help generate clean and green electricity.
K.S. Jayatheertha,Bangalore
Not that anything is beyond the realm of possibility but the project of linking rivers involves huge technical and environmental issues, which have been debated extensively. The overwhelming view is that it is not feasible. Besides the huge financial outlay and the problem of resettlement, the generation of electricity to pump huge quantities of water in several stages is virtually impossible.
It may be relevant to point out that much before Dr. Rao mooted the idea, Arthur Cotton laid the foundation for linking rivers in the 19th century, when he proposed a network of waterways of the delta of the Godavari and the Krishna.
H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana,Mysore
Sir Arthur Cotton's proposal to link the rivers of India could not be implemented due to lack of funds. But it should not be given up now because of some misconceived problems. True, the issues of resettlement and ecology need to be addressed. The government is looking into them and contemplating a new law. We are going to face major water scarcity in different regions soon. If we do not start addressing the problem now, we will face a civil war kind of situation over water.
T. Harish,Mysore
