The Union Government has said that the river inter-linking programme was crucial for water and food security, and sought the cooperation of the States in implementing it. The Ken-Bewta link between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh will be the first project.
Chairing the fifth meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers on Monday, Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sanwar Lal Jat urged water-surplus States to appreciate the national need for interlinking rivers in a spirit of goodwill and cooperation.
“This government will be able to implement the Ken-Betwa link by the end of the year and it will be the model link,” he told the participating Water Resources and Irrigation Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The various clearances related to environment, forest and wildlife protection for the Ken-Betwa link were at an advance stage of processing.
As for the other proposed links, the Detailed Project Report for the Par-Tapi-Narmada link was expected to be ready within a month. After this, the Damanganga-Pinjal link would be taken up, though the issue of water sharing between Maharashtra and Gujarat needed to be addressed.
Referring to the objections raised by the Odisha government on the Mahanadi-Godavari link, the Minister said senior Ministry officials had made a presentation on an alternative proposal. The State government’s concurrence was awaited.
The National Water Development Agency proposed to take up the Sapt-Kosi project, which would facilitate the Kosi-Ghagra link and help in flood control in Bihar. For this, talks were on with Nepal. The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga link, in consultation with the governments of Assam, West Bengal and Bihar, was also under consideration. This project would make water available to the southern States.
Some of the water-scarce States demanded that the project be implemented within a definite timeframe.
