The Congress election manifesto, released on Saturday by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has promised to inter-link country’s major rivers, especially the peninsular rivers. The DMK’s manifesto also focused on the same
The interlinking of rivers seems to be the unique selling proposition (USP) of all political parties in Tamil Nadu.
The Congress election manifesto, released on Saturday by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has promised to inter-link country’s major rivers, especially the peninsular rivers. The DMK’s manifesto also focused on the same.
The NDA government, headed by AB Vajpayee, first took up the project after a Supreme Court directive. A high-power task force constituted with Suresh Prabhu as chairman had submitted a detailed blue print to the government for linking Brahmaputra, Ganga, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery and Vaigai through a network of canals.
“Our objective was to ensure that no water is wasted into the sea. The north Indian rivers get flooded even in summer because of the melting of the glaziers in the Himalayas and this cause floods in Brahmaputra, Mahanadi etc. These flood waters that cause havoc in states such as UP, Bengal and Bihar could be diverted to the water-starved rivers in Tamil Nadu through link canals,” Prabhu told DNA.
“The last seven years have seen no work initiated to implement the Rs5,56,000 crore project, which would possibly have increased India’s agricultural productivity and generated 40,000 MW of clean and green power,” said Prabhu.
Though the UPA’s common minimum programme drafted in 2004 had assured people that rivers would be interlinked, environment minister Jairam Ramesh recently declared that it would lead to an ecological disaster. Rahul Gandhi too termed the project unviable.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}