Dream is something which is not achievable; goal is very often achieved. River Linking Project needs to be consulted with all the stakeholders down the lines,for its short term advantages and long term benefits, along with apolitical Environmental Experts. It should be kept out of political agenda.
With the coming of the NDA Government, river linking is once again in the attention. Budget 2014-15 has reserved Rs. 100 Cr to rush the preparation of Detailed Project Reports for this purpose. The National River Interlinking Project will contain of 30 links to link 37 rivers across the nation over a link of nearly 3000 storing dams to form a vast South Asian Water Network.
In the words of Ashish Kothari from Kalpavriksh, a non-profit organisation that works on ecological and public issues, “The suggestion is based on the thoughtful natural allegory that river waters which drain into the sea are going ‘left-over’. When rivers wind through woody, cultured, and established parks, they carry with them large sums of silt. This silt is deposited along the way, attractive the output of the nearby lands, and finally of the shore waters. This is the basis of the rich farming of the plains of India, and of the rich fisheries off our strands. The river also pushes out the sea, which would otherwise occupy deep into the land, and erode the coast.”
A single project of interlinking could ensue such an environmental cost, and then one can only visualize how it will influence the country’s biodiversity if all the 30 links are instigated. The Government has also overlooked the undercurrents of the river while planning the project. Every river has its own excellence so will the mixing of water not affect the particular quality of the river, or to say when most of the rivers in the country are contaminated, will this not cause fraternization of a less unclean river with a more polluted one?
