Grand river-linking plan: Whiff of fresh air or whirlpool in the making for state?

Share to water down?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget announcement that draft detailed project reports (DPRs) for five river links have been finalised has caused disquietude in Karnataka.

These river links include Damanganga-Pinjal, Par-Tapi-Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Kaveri.

Of them, the Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Kaveri concern Karnataka.

The Basavaraj Bommai administration has expressed its objection to approval of the draft DPRs without deciding on Karnataka’s share of water.

Bommai met the finance minister in his recent visit to New Delhi to place on record Karnataka’s objection to the project.

“The project cannot go ahead without fixing Karnataka’s share of water first. After this decision, if we get a fair share, we will approve of the project, otherwise we will continue opposing it,” Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol told DH.

Also read: Karnataka will suffer badly from river linking projects announced in Budget: Deve Gowda

For Karnataka, this budget announcement comes at a time when the state has already filed an original suit (OS) in the Supreme Court against a river-linking proposal by the Tamil Nadu government.

The issue of river-linking flared up in February 2021, when the then Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the Kaveri-Vaigai-Gundar intra-state river-link project.

This link proposes to use surplus water from Kaveri and Karnataka fears this project will deprive the state of its share of excess water.

The Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Kaveri river-linking project is part of the larger peninsular river-linking project. Under the national perspective plan (NPP) of the Jal Shakti ministry, 14 river links under Himalayan rivers component and 16 links under peninsular rivers component have been identified.

As such, Karnataka is not opposed to the intention behind the project, but the state does not want to be deprived of its share of water.

If the state gets its fair share, the government hopes that the water can be used for drinking water, irrigation and electricity generation purposes.

While Karnataka is waiting for the Centre to call a meeting of the beneficiary states, there are several challenges to the project implementation in its current form.

Firstly, there is no principle laid down on sharing of water when it comes to river-linking.

Also read: Karnataka not to compromise in river linking projects; will take steps to get state’s share: CM Bommai

Unless that is defined, the project cannot go forward, former minor irrigation and environment secretary Captain Raja Rao points out.

Secondly, when it comes to the Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna linking, water passes through the East Coast, which is susceptible to repeated yearly cyclones.

“For the link to reach Grand Anicut (Tamil Nadu), we will need several cross-drain networks. Today, we do not have a system to build such a network that can withstand an unknown magnitude of cyclone,” Rao says.

The project, overall, needs to address the fundamental question of quantifying excess water in a river basin. For this, an assessment has to be done on all options of water management such as rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, watershed development, recycling of treated water, among others, by carefully studying the river’s origin and tributaries.

Unfortunately, there is no such assessment for any river basin in the country at present, Himanshu Thakkar, co-ordinator, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDARP) says.

He was also a member of the expert committee appointed by the Centre on river-linking for the Ken-Betwa basin.

While it might take a long time for the Centre to iron out conflict among beneficiary states, the river-linking project has turned a political hot potato for the ruling BJP.

With Assembly elections just a year away, the Centre cannot afford to go ahead with the project without taking the state into confidence, especially at a time when both Congress and JD(S) have lashed out at the BJP for ‘apathy’ towards Mekedatu and Mahadayi projects.

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