The Hindu : `River grid project will lead to new inter-State disputes'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 18, 2003

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`River grid project will lead to new inter-State disputes'

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi May 17. The rivers interlinking project will generate a whole new set of inter-State disputes even as long-standing inter-basin disputes such as the Cauvery and Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal remained unresolved, a group of intellectuals observed here today at a `Citizens Meeting'.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Medha Patkar, the former High Commissioner, L.C. Jain, the former Water Resources Secretary, Ramaswamy Iyer, and the water expert, Himanshu Thakkar, attended the meeting, among others.

The meeting urged the Government to take people into confidence and urged it to put the feasibility reports of various links in the public domain. It sought details on the source of funding and the socio-economic and ecological costs of the estimated Rs. 560,000-crore project.

Mr. Jain questioned the "legitimacy" given to the proposal by the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. He questioned the knowledge base of the Supreme Court on which it decided that rivers be interlinked in 10 years. He wanted to know whether the natural resources the project would consume could ever be reproduced. "Citizens need drinking water 10 times a day, not in 10 years from now."

His opposition was primarily on the ground that though the project claimed to solve the water problem of drought-prone areas, two-thirds of such geographical area would remain uncovered and would have to be augmented by local water harvesting programmes. "Not even the worst of governments can be so insensitive to promise something so prima facie absurd in terms of fulfilling the objective for which public opinion is solicited."

Ms. Patkar said the project was an example of how the system could be used to subvert as in Iraq and in Gujarat. "The Government proposes to sign contracts for eight links on which no details are available. There is no project plan nor is there a financial plan nor a comprehensive plan for the social and environment impact of interlinking rivers. Not just a task force for interlinking rivers but a contractors force is being raised." She said the issue about "zamin, jungle, paani (land, forest and water) and human beings" was so serious that people's organisations, intellectuals and civil society should speak up. "This whole connection is not only being overlooked but is ridiculed and the Government is going ahead with its plan in these two election years.

Whether it is the question of drinking water, displacement, floods, drought, farmers or fishermen — will it really solve the problems or worsen them. Whatever little surface or ground water remains in the hands of people and is accessible to them is being snatched. This has to be challenged by the tribal and riverine populations, who would be the prime targets. Mr. Suresh Prabhu as Task Force Chairman, who is giving face to this abstract project, must come face to face with the people," she said.

Stressing people's right to information, Ms. Patkar said to start with, there was no information and later the project would become "fait accompli" on the pretext that some amount had been spent on it, as it happened in the Sardar Sarovar Project.

"By the time the project is implemented, its cost would increase manifold and not even the World Bank and the ADB would be able to fund it and multi-nationals and anti-national agencies would step in." Mr. Iyer said the Constitution did not mention intra-basin transfers. He said even long-standing inter-basin disputes were unresolved. "If consensus was worked out on quid pro quo inducements or political compromises how lasting would those be. If the only principle that'll work would be money then it'd be dangerous and would have implications on international treaties with neighbouring countries," he said.

The environmentalist, Shekhar Singh, said interlinking rivers with different biological, chemical contents and ecosystems was like linking blood vessels without checking the blood group.

The meeting, organised by the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, Toxics Link and Ecological Foundation, decided to convene similar meetings in parts of the country to generate awareness. It also decided to bring together various social groups working in the sector on a common platform.

It said that drinking water was a local issue and could be tackled with water harvesting projects and changes in cropping pattern.

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