REALLY, LET'S LEAVE OUR RIVER'S ALONE!

By Ruma Dubey

After the new Govt was sworn in, there was talk of launching a Rs.25,000 crore plan to create a national waterway grid by linking the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, and Godavari. The first reaction to that – why do we need to travel so much at the cost of causing irreparable damage to our rivers? And the ‘rightist’ feel this is simply not the right way to treat the very same rivers we worship and perform aarti to.  Of course there are the supporters of this move who feel it will save a  lot of time, cost and petrol/diesel too. But what about the fumes being let into the rivers, which today feed the fields and the very water we all sustain on?

Somehow, for the BJP, this fixation with the rivers is not a new idea. It was a seed sown by Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he first mooted the idea of interlinking the rivers to overcome water shortage. And this is probably the most opportune time to once again revisit this plan and see if there is any merit in this ‘great’ idea.

The NDA lost power before it could implement any part of its great idea. Then UPA came into power and sat on it, like it sat on everything else. It appointed the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to conduct a feasibility report on interlinking rivers of India (ILR) to overcome this water shortage problem.

And the report put out by NCAER shows that this ILR could prove to be catastrophic for India. The ILR project, if implemented could add around 5% to the GDP over the next 13 years but this addition to GDP comes at a huge economic, social and ecological cost which is just not worth it.

ILR sounds easy – just change the direction of the river to merge into one big mass. But it only sounds easy; it is a gargantuan task, almost trying to become God!  We are talking of linking waters in the Himalayan and peninsular river.  Why this topic now? In the beginning of the year, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to constitute a special committee to pursue the outdated plan of linking India's rivers. Prior to that, the Supreme Court had suggested that the project be completed by 2016. But the idea was rejected by the then Union Ministry of Environment & Forests while states like Kerela, Punjab and West Bengal rejected this project.  That’s not all –a wide spectrum of experts has rejected the idea.

Here is a quick look at why ILR project is just not viable.

• The NCAER has only conducted a ‘Economic’ study; it has nothing on the social and ecological impact.  It did not even consider the cost benefits of implementing this project.
• The cost of the project -  NCAER study observes that the cost of the overall ILR programme was estimated by the task force at Rs 5,60,000 crore at 2002-03 prices. Can one imagine the cost at today’s inflation?
• People and livelihoods displaced by construction of dams are yet to be settled. Can one imagine how people all across India could get displaced and how they could be resettled? NCAER report is silent about this aspect.
• Moving waters across India is extremely energy intensive. Do we have that much energy in an already power deficient country?
• Diverting rivers will mean major changes in environmental landscapes. Nowhere does the report talk about this ecological damage.
• Linking rivers would mean that states should be willing to share water. Cauvery is already a volcanic issue. AP and Kerala have already rejected the project because of proposed Polavaram and Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar links. The Court’s order for ILR project was based on the assumption that there is consensus among the states for this project. Clearly, this itself has hit a roadblock.
• This project to link 30 rivers, also covered the Brahmaputra and Manas and that required international approvals too as planning of water resources of the region will mean care with respect to international dimensions.  Thus the challenge of taking along neighbouring countries, especially China, is huge and seems impossible.

ILR sounded ambitious but as we can see, it is unviable and spells disaster. And with the BJP once again toying with more or less the same idea is worrisome. It needs to clean up rivers first and look at other less destructive but more efficient options like rainwater harvesting, improving irrigation efficiencies, putting a lid on pollution and looking at viable local water transfer options between states for agriculture.

Really, let’s leave our rivers alone.