A three-judge bench said the Centre and the concerned state governments should participate for its “effective” implementation.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the Centre to implement the ambitious interlinking of rivers project in a time-bound manner and appointed a high-powered committee for its planning and implementation. Observing that the already-delayed project has resulted in an increase in cost, a three-judge bench headed by chief justice SH Kapadia said the Centre and the concerned state governments should participate for its “effective” implementation.
The project, a brainchild of the NDA government, aims to link 30 major rivers. It will also involve diverting the Ganges and the Brahmaputra — two of India’s biggest rivers. The project requires the construction of large dams within India, Nepal and Bhutan, and international agreements with these countries.
In October 2002, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee set up a task force to get the project going in light of an acute drought that year. The project’s cost then was estimated to be around Rs5.6 lakh crore. It may go up significantly now, making it one of costliest and most ambitious projects of the government.
The SC order on Monday came on a suo motu petition. The bench appointed a high-powered committee comprising the Union minister of water resources, its secretary, and four experts appointed by the water resources ministry, finance ministry, planning commission and the environment ministry as well the secretary of the green ministry.
Representatives from state governments, two social activists and senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, who has been assisting the SC in the case, will also be on the committee.
“We direct the Union of India to forthwith constitute a committee for interlinking of rivers and instruct the panel to implement the project,” the bench said.
Mechanical engineer from IIT-Bombay Shripad Dharmadhikary who has been working on water-related issues for over a decade was critical of the move. “Instead of solving India’s water problems, it will create more problems. It is a very ill-conceived project. It will be very expensive in terms of financial cost as well as in social and environmental terms,” Dharmadhikary who is associated with NGO Manthan Adhyayan Kendra told DNA.
He said its benefits may not equal the investments. “Also, once again it will divert our attention from other solutions such as rainwater harvesting or decentralisation of water management. These are the real solutions for our water problems and they will need less finance,” Dharmadhikary said. The engineer said he would first read the SC order and then decide whether to ask the apex court to review it.
The taskforce set up by the government said the linking of the rivers will raise the irrigation potential from 140 million hectares to 160 million hectares for all types of crops by 2050.
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