BJP TODAY

August 16--31, 2003 - Vol. 12, No. 16

Special Purpose Vehicle for implementing River Linking scheme proposed
Suresh Prabhu addressed BJP Think Tank Cell
By our special correspondent

Shri Suresh Prabhu, Chairman of the Task Force on Inter-Linking of Rivers, said on July 14 that a special purpose vehicle (SPV) might be set up for implementing the river linking scheme in order to expedite its completion before the due date of December 31, 2016 fixed by the Supreme Court.

Addressing to questions after a half-an-hour presentation of the proposed scheme of setting up 30 river links, he said that it might be possible to start work on about four links within a year or so after the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) in respect of these schemes were ready. The links he named are: Ken-Betwa in Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh, Prabati-Kalisindh-Chambal which pass through Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan; Damanganga-Pinjal (Gujarat-Maharashtra) and Par-Tapi-Narmada (Maharashtra-Gujarat).

He told members that the entire project would cost only 1.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year for the duration of the project. When asked if this was not a very large sum, Shri Prabhu asked what would have been the cost of setting up hydro-electric projects with a total installed capacity of 40,000 Megawatt(MW) which the linking scheme is likely to provide; what would have been cumulative cost of setting up irrigation scheme which would provide water for a total of 35 million hectares, and what would be the cost of setting up infrastructure for several water transportation schemes. All these, he asserted, would be provided under the inter-linking scheme.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu, President of the BJP, who attended the meeting for a while, said that Shri Prabhu had been invited to make presentation of the inter-linking project at the BJP's national executive meeting at Raipur. (Shri Prabhu made the presentation on July 19, the second day of the meeting).

Shri Prabhu informed the gathering that while linking river with the other, care would be taken to ensure that the minimum flows in the rivers were not disturbed. He also explained the position regarding objections raised by certain States to the linking project and assured them that efforts were on to evolve a consensus on the project. He also said that the Chief Minister of Kerala had agreed to for a joint survey of the linking project involving his State (The Pamba-Achankovil-Viappar link which aims at diverting certain amount of surplus flows in the first two rivers to the third, which flows in Tamil Nadu).

Shri Prabhu also said that preparing DPRs in respect of a few links were in progress which showed that the costs on them estimated earlier could be reduced by 40 per cent and even 50 per cent.

He also said that contrary to views expressed by certain groups of people that such linking projects had not been undertaken anywhere in the world, Shri Prabhu said that China had recently taken up the huge project of transferring surplus waters of the Yangtzekiang river in the south to the Northern areas and also linking this river with the Hwang Ho in their upper reaches, in show-clad regions (in north-west China). Also, California in the USA had already had a water transfer project which had fuelled its economy to unimaginable heights, Shri Prabhu said.