The Indian Rivers Inter-link is
a proposed large-scale civil engineering project that aims to join the majority
of India's rivers by
canals and so reduce persistent water shortages in parts of India.
THE
PROJECT
The Inter-link would consist of two
parts, a northern Himalayan River Development component and a southern
Peninsular River Development component.
Himalayan Development
The northern component would consist
of a series of dams built along the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers
in India, Nepal and Bhutan for
the purposes of storage. Canals would be built to transfer surplus water from
the eastern tributaries of the Ganga to the west. The Brahmaputra and its
tributaries would be linked with the Ganga and the Ganga with the Mahanadi
river. This part of the project would provide additional irrigation
for about 220,000 square kilometres and generate about 30 gigawatts of
electricity. In theory it would provide extra flood control in the Ganga and
Brahmaputra river basins. It could also provide excess water for the
controversial Farakka Barrage which could be used to
flush out the silt at the port of Kolkata.
Himalayan Component
Peninsular Development
The main part of the project would
send water from the eastern part of India to the south and west. The southern
development project would consist of four main parts. First, the Mahanadi,Godavari. Krishna and Kaveri rivers
would all be linked by canals. Extra water storage dams would be built along
the course of these rivers. The purpose of this would be to transfer surplus
water from the Mahanadi and Godavari rivers to the south of India. Second,
those rivers that flow west to the north of Mumbai and
the south of Tapi would be linked. Due to the irregular
fluctuations in water levels in the region, as much storage capacity would be
built as possible. The water would be used by the urban areas of Bombay and
also to provide irrigation in the coastal areas of Maharashtra.
Third the Ken and Chambal rivers
would be linked in order to provide better water facilities for Madhya
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Finally a number of west-flowing rivers along theWestern Ghats simply
discharge into the Arabian Sea. As many of these as possible would
be diverted for irrigation purposes. The Peninsular part of the project would
provide additional irrigation to 130,000 square kilometres and generation an
additional 4 gigawatts of power.
Peninsular Component
CRITICISM
·
Critics
also point to the enormous costs conservatively estimated at some US$ 140b
which India cannot afford to spend.
·
The
change in elevation (a minimum of 100 m, generally increases towards the south)
from the plains of northern India to the Vindhya and Satpura ranges
and the Deccan Plateau beyond them, pose a major
challenge to the project; as the water would have to travel upwards in
order to reach Maharashtra and southern
India.
STATED BENEFITS
- Alleviating
droughts and flood control.
- Cheap
water for irrigation.
- Availability
of drinking water.
- Generation
of hydroelectric power.
- Allowing
more inland navigation.
- Employment
generation.
- Fostering
a spirit of national integration.
INTERLINKING : SALVATION
OR FOLLY
- Riparian rights: conflict between states
(as- kauveri and Mahanadi issue) have to be resolved. In addition worry of
Bangladesh and Nepal have to be taken into account.
- Financing: Raising 5.6 lakh crores of
rupees is a tough task and if created maintenance of huge asset is a problem.
Fear of privatization of water resources.
- Flood period: Idea of networking flood
water to the deficient basin does not consider the surplus period of donor
area and deficient period of recipient area.
- Desertification: Prevention of natural
flooding may led to desertification as there will be loss of fertile soil.
- River pollution: Reducing the flow of river
by diversion will increase the concentration of pollutants in the river.
- Security: Security of network will be
an enormous load on security forces of central and state governments. As
canal can be easily breached by manual or natural activities.
- Land acquisition and displacement: Misery and injustice to the displaced people in obtaining compensation due to systemic corruption.
- Technical feasibility: The slope, altitude and
other topographical aspects have to be considered. (e.g. for Ganga, Patna
is diversible surplus but for raising water to Vindhya chain i.e. 2860 ft.
high enormous amount of power is required).
PRICE TAG
Financial cost :
1. 5.6 L Crores Rs :
2. 250% of India’s tax revenue in
2002
3. 1/4th of India’s
annual GDP
4. Twice the entire irrigation
budget of India since 1950
Rehabilitation Cost
:
1. Estimated that 8,000 sq. km. of
land affecting the thousands of villages and towns
2. 33 mn of people have been displaced
in India during the last 50 years most have not been rehabilitated and ILR will
also displace million of people from the most needy section.
Environmental Cost :
1. 50,000
ha of forest to be submerged only by peninsular link.
2. Intensive irrigation in
unsuitable soils will lead to water logging and salinity.
3. Highly polluted rivers will
spread toxicity to other rivers.
4. River system will be altered
catastrophically creating droughts and desert.
Doubtful Role of Government Agencies :
- Claimed
that 35 mn ha of dry land regions will be brought under irrigation but the
areas not clearly identified.
- No
clear answer to the issue of displacement and resettlement.
- The
reports regarding the feasibility of the
interlinking not made public.
- KEN BETAWA LINK:
- Not
yet clear, which is surplus basin and which is deficit.
- 1991
census data used for the implementation in 2005.
- No
proper assessment of the ecological and social aspects.
- Only
3 dams figured in the report out of 10.
Alternatives to ILR :
- Rainwater harvesting and conservation of water
resources : Changes in topography, soil system and runoff flow pattern in
a changing climatic environment is considered. Not only stored rain water but soil erosion is also prevented.
- Recharging ground water reservoir : Skills have to be developed for arresting rain water where it falls
and allowing it to recharge these ground water reservoirs.
- Large scale utilization of ground water in
deltas : practically feasible and initiatives for borewell development and
irrigation needed with responsibility lying .
- Community participation: Approaches of reducing
water consumption by the affluent in the cities and reducing the wastage
of water by the farmers in their field can be attempted.
0 comments:
Post a Comment