In your editorial, ‘River Sutra’ (IE, August 26), you praise the idea of linking the Ken and Betwa rivers. Yet the idea of linking India’s rivers is both dangerous and impractical.The river-linking project envisages connecting the rivers of the north with those of the south, through a network of canals. It seeks to solve the flood problem of the Ganges and Brahmaputra and the drought problem in south India by diverting the excess water in the Himalayan rivers to the monsoon fed peninsular ones. Water from the Brahmaputra will flow into the Ganges, which in turn will be connected with the Mahanadi and the Godavari rivers. The Godavari will be linked to the Krishna and then to the Pennar and Cauvery. Thus water from the Brahmaputra and Ganges will end up in the Cauvery.This grand inter-basin transfer is slated to be completed by 2016. It will require the construction of more than 1000 km of new link canals, 10,000 MW of electricity to lift the water over the highlands and over 200 storage reservoirs to enable the water transfers. The sheer grandeur of the idea may appeal to the masses. But there are apprehensions that it could turn out to be a nightmare, destroying cultures, communities, ecosystems, while creating rifts between states.It will, besides, entail the loss of large tracts of land to canals and reservoirs. National parks and sanctuaries will disappear, affecting the flora and fauna of various regions. The dams required will displace lakhs of people and if sea-bound water is diverted inland, sea ingress might have unfathomed impact on coastal communities. The planned expenditure is Rs 5,60,000 crore. If the project is completed in 10 years, this works out to Rs 56,000 crore a year, a severe strain indeed on government resources which would require the shelving of other important projects.Inter-linking rivers, clearly, is not a good water management policy. Alternatives must be found. Watershed projects, renovation, restoration and maintenance of existing tanks and reservoirs, as well as rainwater harvesting are some excellent alternatives to such an untenable project.Bhatia is a reader in Economics, Delhi University
