Linking rivers to tanks and ponds more essential: Water activist

‘It is more feasible and cost-affective than linking rivers’

Water activist Rajendra Singh has said that linking of rivers to tanks and ponds was more essential than linking rivers to rivers.

At the inauguration of the national water convention here on Wednesday, he said that linking of rivers to tanks proves more feasible and cost-affective than linking of rivers. Appreciating the tank-filling projects of Karnataka, he said such works should be replicated across the country where river water is used to filled the tanks.

“In order to make India drought-free, small rivers should be revived and riverbeds prevented from encroachment,” Mr. Singh said. Stating that climate change and global warming was making adverse impact agriculture, he noted that agriculture experts must now involve themselves in extensive research for producing seeds that adopt to this changing climatic conditions.

“The conventional method of farming will not help any more because the system does not suit to the changing climatic condition. We must invent new system for better output, which could cope up with changing climatic conditions,” Mr. Singh said.

He said that at the end of the three-day convention, a gist of the outcome should be prepared on how to conserve water for the present and future generation. The documents should be presented to the State and the Union governments for implementation.

Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil said that minor irrigation should also be given equal importance like major irrigation for mitigating drought. Stating that his Ministry has given more significance to micro-irrigation for conserving water, Mr. Patil said that over 5 lakh acres of land of the State, mainly in north Karnataka region, would come under micro-irrigation within three years.

“This is a remarkable achievement in the State and Karnataka is going to have the large areas under micro-irrigation in the country,” he said. The Minister said the Congress government was planning to convert north Karnataka into an agriculture corridor after the completion of the ongoing drip irrigation projects.