Taking a cue from the Supreme Court’s nod for the river inter-linking project, the State government is considering implementing its river inter-linking project. The Department of Water Resources has drawn up the Pashchima Vahini project to link 22 west-flowing rivers in the first phase.
Minister for Water Resources Basavaraj Bommai told The Hindu that administrative approval for this project would be given in January 2013 and the work would commence thereafter.
The government had done certain modifications to the original project.
The geological conditions in the coastal region, which lies in the slopes of the Western Ghats, would not permit large-scale human intervention. Besides, water run-off was also slow in the rivers of the coastal region. Hence, it had been decided to bring about certain modifications and explore the possibilities of river water harvesting building small check-dams at various places.
Based on the report of an expert committee, the department had finalised project to construct 480 check-dams and 73 salt reclamation dams. The estimated cost is Rs. 450 crore and the work is likely to commence in 2013. Various other issues related to this proposal were being discussed at the government level, he said.
Mr. Bommai said that the State government was keen on implementing the river inter-linking project, the brainchild of the then National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre.
Two other river inter-linking projects proposed by the State government were the Bedti and the Varada and the Netravati and the Hemavati. Environmental hearing would be held for the Bedti-Varada project as the people of the region have opposed it. In the case of the Netravati-Hemavati inter-linking project the government had ordered an environmental impact assessment study, Mr. Bommai said.
