Is it wise to burden India's economy with such a massive project?
 

The River Interlinking project  Objective: Transferring water from water surplus basins to water deficit basins/regions by inter-linking of major Indian rivers to tackle droughts, floods and disputes over the sharing of river waters in the country.   Funds: Rs 5,60,000 crore.

The financial resources required for the river interlinking project are indeed enormous in magnitude but the expected benefits are also commensurate and far in excess of those from any contemporary project. Some of the significant benefits are as follows.
Reduction of floods and generation of hydroelectricity to the tune of almost 60 000 megahertz
Creation of new opportunities for navigation through the development of waterways
Capacity building of at least two power stations.
Substantial enhancement in the resultant irrigated area.

Other than these, the project will also develop fisheries, create opportunities for tourism and employment in rural areas, check encroachment of urban areas onto rural terrains, and also help develop the latter. So, comparing the inputs with the benefits, which will annually increase the country's GDP (gross domestic product) by five per cent, a project like this is indeed required. And, if these are just the outputs then the inputs must be ploughed in to achieve them.

In any case, the finances required will not be more than 1.5% of the nation's current GDP. And this project is going to be completed over the next 15 years, by when, I am sure the GDP would be at least 2.5 to 3-4 times higher from what it is today, and therefore, correspondingly, the investment made in the project will be less than the GDP. Consequently, a multi-beneficial project like this gains all the more importance and should be implemented.

What is being done to ensure that this project does not follow the Sardar Sarovar Dam project's fate of delayed deadlines and negative publicity?
It is true that some projects can result in adverse publicity because of misinformation or lack of information. But, misinformation and disinformation can be tackled by 'right information'. Once the right information is disseminated, many of the apprehensions and misgivings, which the project might create, can be totally eliminated.

To be able to make available the correct information, we are setting up a Web site, wherein on an ongoing basis, we will keep sharing information of anything and everything, as we do not want to hide anything from the people. At the same time, there will be some issues, in general, like displacement of people or the ecological issues for which we are consulting experts and due care will be taken to ensure that we do not undertake any activity that results into losses of ecology or sociological damage, which will be far in excess of the benefits accruing from this project. So, the cost-benefit ratio will be constantly assessed and I want to ensure that anything that damages the ecology is not embarked upon.

In fact, this is an opportunity to increase the forest cover. We need forestland, which in India is very limited. This project, for that matter, will make water available to help convert wasteland into forests, thereby enhancing India's forest cover. At the same time, the project can also push the vehicular traffic off the roads, because waterways will be developed. There will also be overall improvement in the quality of life as hydroelectric generation improves, fly ash generation from thermal power plants is reduced, and thus much of the air, water, and land pollution is arrested. The project will create many win-win situations and the benefits incurred will be far more than the problems.

How will this interlinking help the rivers?
Rivers, which go dry, or are seasonal, will be benefited. Also, the rivers that have some flow but have lost their ability for self-purification will regain their strength because of an ongoing flow of water in them. The Yamuna is facing the same problem: there is hardly any flow or water in it, especially just before it enters Delhi, which brings down the quality of water too. Similarly, if there was enough flow in the Ganges downstream, the pollution can be taken care of. Unfortunately, now we are pouring everything into Ganges: dead bodies, industrial effluents, sewage, etc. We still expect its water to be pure! Under the current circumstances, water purification is possible only if we link the rivers. This project will also take into consideration various aspects linked to rivers, like cleaning of rivers etc.

Some government schemes to clean the major rivers of India are already on and as the interlinking of the rivers also relates to the linking of various initiatives of the government, we will not only look at it from the engineering aspect but also from the management perspective. This will also help us throw light on the cropping patterns, transport policies and river cleaning initiatives, to name a few.

Though provision is available to compensate for the submerged forests, is it wise to play with nature?
No, it is not wise to play with nature. I have always maintained and I strongly believe that the forest is one commodity that cannot be manufactured. But look at our population. Is any other option available? Had we been 25% of what we are today, we would not have needed this project. But if our population is just 50% more of what it is now, in next 15 years, then we certainly need it. . Also in this project, we may submerge some areas but having planted forests are still better than having no forests.

How will this project be different from the ones undertaken abroad?
Projects of similar concepts have already been implemented in different parts of the world including China, Canada, many parts of Europe, and even in India. The greenery of Rajasthan is nothing but the river interlinking scheme. For that matter, Periyar in the south is again a river divergent scheme. Therefore, this is not a concept that has not been tried in the past, so we should try to accept it with an open mind, rather than treat it with cynicism.