Inter Basin Water Transfer Link Project of India

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Move for inter-linking of rivers
Environmental groups call India’s bluff
The Independent
Staff Reporter

Some environmental groups in India have come out against the proposed inter-linking of rivers and have expressed the apprehension that the diversion of water of the common rivers could toll the 'death knell' for mangroves in Bangladesh and West Bengal as well as the loss of the richest fisheries in South Asia.

The Hindustan Times in its August 19 issue published an article, authored by Darryl D'Monte, who wrote that Jayanta Bandopadhya of the Centre for Development and Environment Policy at the Indian Institute of Management in Kolkata had challenged the concept of 'surplus' water and its transfer as planned by the Indian government.

According to Bandopadhya, an internationally respected water expert, arresting the natural flow of rivers on a gigantic scale could sound 'the death knell' for mangroves in the delta region of West Bengal and Bangladesh. Because, mangroves require the steady rise and fall of the sea level so that their roots can breath. Once this process is disrupted, the world could "lose the richest fisheries in the South Asia. Salinity would also make inroads into the region, affecting thousands of hectares of arable land. Besides, thousands of fishermen would be jobless if the river link project is implemented.

He said that the link scheme did not envisage carrying water to some of the most deprived sections of the population, including tribal people and those living in the highlands.

According to a report from New Delhi, more than half a dozen pre-feasibility reports are being prepared by the National Water Development Agency on the controversial river link scheme which, at the 2002 prices, is estimated to cost Rs 5,60,000 crore or $120 billion. In other words, a quarter of the country’s current GDP.

The gargantuan project envisages the linking of rivers in the Himalayan region and similarly connecting those in peninsular India, so that excess water from the north can be transferred south with link canals during the monsoon. The Supreme Court of India last year ordered the government to look into this project.

India’s President APJ Abdul Kalam lent his weight to the scheme, prompting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to order officials to carry out preliminary studies. A task force was set up under former Environment and Industries Minister Suresh Prabhu.

"Inter-basin transfer of water is quite common," says Chetan Pandit, chief engineer in the Water Resources Ministry, which is spearheading the move to launch this project. "It has been done in the US, Canada and China. Even within India, the Beas and Sutlej rivers have been linked and the Indira Gandhi Canal has brought water from the Sutlej (in Punjab) in the Bhakra canal to Rajasthan."

He made out a case that the project would increase irrigation and generate power to solve the country’s problems. Addressing a group of journalists at a workshop on ‘Water and Sanitation for the Poor’ in Hyderabad, Pandit said the river linking scheme would irrigate 22 million hectares and generate 30 million units (kWh) of electricity.

Jayanta Bandhopadhaya has questioned these official views.

While advocates of the scheme speak of the Three Gorges dam in China, one of the world’s biggest, Bandhopadhaya emphasised that China produces as much as 4.6 tonnes of cereal per hectare, while India produces only 2.1 tonnes. And China has less arable land per head than India.

In India, due to the political clout exerted by rich farmers, irrigation—which accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of the total water consumed—is often wasteful, since there is no metering of usage and farmers simply flood their fields. The country could increase food availability by greater efficiency without increasing irrigation, Bandopadhaya maintained.

He made a strong case for putting all initial reports in the public domain so that scientists could assess the pros and cons of the project. Prabhu had agreed to do this. But until now, the public is not even aware of what studies are being commissioned and who is conducting them. "Science needs open assessment," Bandhopadhaya said. Often, the government conducts studies, and then argues that it has spent so much on these that it has to go ahead with the project.

Reacting to concerns that Bangladesh and Nepal had not been consulted although these countries, along with China, would be affected by the project, Pandit countered by likening critics who have not seen the studies to someone asking whether a patient was going to live or not before taking an X-ray. He promised to ask his ministry to put up the executive summaries of the reports on the web.

Prabhu sought to allay the fears of the critics by saying that the river link scheme was only a proposal at this stage, not a project. He also promised to form a standing committee of NGOs, whose views would be taken into account before going ahead.

However, critics believe that water development agencies—which champion large dams and other capital-intensive schemes and have in recent years been sidelined—are using this opportunity to conduct very expensive studies. Even if the project ultimately collapses on account of its staggering costs—as in all probability it will—they will have promoted themselves for some time.

Officials of the Ministry of External Affairs of India while reacting to the Bangladesh protest over the issue of linking of rivers said that the neighbour (Bangladesh) "could engage in more constructive approach than politicise the issue".

India had "shown a degree of generosity" by signing the water-sharing treaty with Bangladesh, it said.

The Pioneer and The Hindu newspapers on Wednesday quoted an official of the Ministry of the External Affairs as having said: "We have shown a degree of generosity to Bangladesh by signing the Ganga Water Treaty and demonstrated through the treaty our adherence to our responsibility". Countries should not jump the gun. The moment the issue of water is raised, it gets complicated, he added.

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