To link or not to link: A debate

The essence of a river is its ebb and flow but won't taming of the fresh free-flowing rivers by building massive dams pose a threat to our rivers and the communities that live by them? 

Participants from different parts of the country who congregated at the first ever India Rivers Week held at Delhi, discussed the issue in the wake of the present government’s move to ‘fast-track’ the interlinking of rivers. The group was apprehensive that the project would amount to committing a deliberate hydrocide. The sense of the house was that the government should not go ahead with the interlinking of rivers until basin-wide options assessment was done in consultation with, and with the consent of the gram sabhas and communities.

Ramaswamy Iyer

Iyer noted that the National Commission on Integrated Water Resource Development Report had, in 1999, observed that optimal utilization of land and water should be aimed at fully exploiting intra-basin surpluses before considering inter-basin transfers. “The Commission had, after a careful examination of the water balances in the various basins, noted that there was no imperative need for massive water transfers. The assessed needs could be met with more efficient utilization of intra-basin resources, except in the case of the Cauvery and Vaigai basins where limited water transfers could take place by transferring water from Godavari River".

Lack of scientific basis of the project

Himanshu Thakkar

Thakkar questioned the soundness of the project in terms of the various benefits that are claimed on its behalf. “Groundwater constitutes the bulk of the water that is used in agriculture, drinking and in industrial sectors. The government needs to wake up to this reality. It should focus on increasing groundwater recharge and at the same time taking up community-led regulation and demand measures to reduce groundwater exploitation”, he said.

Dubious assessment of basin water availability

Brij Gopal

Manoj Misra

Interlinking highly cost ineffective

Suresh Babu

No interlinking if it causes damage to environment

“Government will not proceed with interlinking of rivers if environmental consequences are adverse”, said

Uma Bharti

“River- based projects may be a painful choice, but we cannot close our doors to it as it yields ‘rich dividends’ for the people”, she said. She assured that minimum environmental flows will be maintained in the river itself and that a taskforce has been set up to “understand the ecological and environmental consequences of interlinking of projects”.

Manoj Misra

This post presents an open debate on interlinking of rivers moderated by Ramaswamy Iyer with Himanshu Thakkar and Brij Gopal as panelists. The debate was held as a part of the India Rivers Week organized at New Delhi during 24-27th November, 2014.