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The idea of
interlinking of rivers in India has repeatedly been
occurring to the Indian scientists and engineers in the
past but has always met with rejection on account of
technical unfeasibility or socio-economic issues.
Four decades back, it was Mr. K.L. Rao, the then
Union Minister for Irrigation and Power, who suggested a
2640-km long Ganga-Cauvery link by carrying waters partly
by gravity and partly by lift but the costs were found
highly prohibitive and the idea was rejected.This was
followed by the Captain Dastur Plan, popularly known as
Garland Scheme.Under this scheme, a 4200-km long Himalayan
canal and a 9300-km long Garland canal were suggested,
both to be linked by pipelines near Patna and Delhi.
Again the plan was found technically unfeasible and laid
to rest.
Presently the Ministry of Water Resources,
Government of India, has come up with an elaborate plan
of linking various rivers to mitigate droughts & floods
for maximum utilization of river water that is going waste
into the sea. Supreme Court has desired the study of
feasibility of the scheme and there is a mixed response
from different parts of the country.
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As per the newly proposed scheme, two components name
Himalayan component and Peninsular component have been
outlined. The Himalayan component proposes to have 14
canal links (see Table 1) while the Peninsular component
has 16 links (see Table 2). Under the Himalayan
component, many dams are planned to be constructed on the
tributaries of Ganga and Brahmaputra in India, Nepal and
Bhutan. This component envisages linking of Brahmaputra
and its tributaries with Ganga and Ganga with Mahanadi to
transfer surplus flows of East to the West thus benefiting
many states. The proposed links may help in controlling
floods in Ganga and Brahmaputra basins.
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Sr.
No. |
Links identified in Himalayan Component
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1. |
Kosi-Mechi |
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2. |
Kosi-Ganga |
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3. |
Gandak-Ganga |
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4. |
Ghagra-Yamuna |
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5. |
Sarda-Yamuna |
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6. |
Yamuna-Rajasthan |
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7. |
Rajasthan-Sabarmati |
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8. |
Chunar-Sone barrage |
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9. |
Sone
dam-Southern tributaries of Ganga |
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10. |
Brahmaputra-Ganga (Manas-Sankosh-Tista-Ganga) |
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11. |
Brahmaputra-Ganga (Jogigopa-Tista-Farakka) |
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12. |
Farakka-Sunderbans |
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13. |
Farakka-Damodar-Subernrekha |
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14. |
Subernrekha-Mahanadi |
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Table
1 |
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S.No. |
Links identified in Peninsular Component |
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1. |
Mahanadi (Manibhadra)-Godavari (Dowlaiswaram) |
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2. |
Godavari (Inchampalli)-Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) |
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3. |
Godavari (Inchampalli Low dam)- Krishna (Nagarjuna
Tail pond) |
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4. |
Godavari (Polavaram)-Krishna (Vijaywada) |
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5. |
Krishna (Almatti)-Pennar |
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6. |
Krishna (Srisailam)-Pennar (Prodattur) |
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7. |
Krishna (Nagarjunasagar)- Pennar(Somasila) |
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8. |
Pennar (Somasila)-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) |
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9. |
Cauvery (Kattaiai)-Vaigai-Gundar |
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10. |
Ken-Betwa-Link |
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11. |
Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal |
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12. |
Par-Tapi-Narmada |
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13. |
Damanganga-Pinjal |
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14. |
Bedti-Varda |
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15. |
Netravati-Hemavati |
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16. |
Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar |
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Table
2 |
Under the Peninsular component, surplus waters of Mahanadi
and Godavari rivers are proposed to be transferred to the
deficit basins of Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery and Vaigai. In
the transfer of waters from Godavari to Krishna, a lift of
1200 cusecs of water over about 116m is essential. In
addition, water is proposed to be transferred from Ken
River to Betwa river to benefit MP and AP and interlinking
of Parbati, Kalisindh and Chambal rivers to benefit MP and
Rajasthan. Peninsular component aims at benefiting Orissa,
Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Pondicherry, Maharashtra and Gujrat.
Estimated cost of the whole scheme at 2002 price level has
been worked out to be Rs. 5,60,000 crore & the proposed
time period for the completion of the scheme is 35
years. The present status of implementation of the scheme
is that the feasibility report of six links has been
completed while that of 18 links is under progress. It is
estimated that feasibility reports for peninsular
component will be completed by 2004 while that of
Himalayan component will be over by 2008.
Source : Summarised from an article by Sh. Jagvir Goyal
(The Tribune, March 13, 2003)
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