The National Commission for Integrated Water Resource Development Plan (IWRDP) had in a policy recommendation categorically stated that the “Himalayan river linking project was not feasible for the period of review up to 2050”.

The IWRDP was set up by the ministry of water resources and provided a detailed brief on the southern rivers also stating that there was no need to rewrite geography of the peninsula rivers as there was “no imperative necessity for such massive water transfer”.

Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh recently took the stand that the Ken-Betwa river linking project should be abandoned as it could spell disaster from the ecological point of view but the Madhya Pradesh minister for agriculture Ramkrishna Kusmaria thinks otherwise.

Claiming that river linking projects are not only destructive to environment but also turn unscientific, unethical and against people

Yoginder K Alagh