States led by Kerala have expressed apprehension on the ambitious Interlinking of rivers (IRL). Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka and Sikkim point out that the entire issue of inter-basin water transfer needs to be studied in greater detail.
Kerala has taken the stand that long distance inter-basin water transfer will not work. The state’s rivers depend on the monsoon and Kerala needs water for its own network of channels, especially during summers.
Punjab maintains that water surplus states must give water to water-deficit states. While the stand of Bihar is more complex because all its rivers emanate from Nepal and water diversion would require the permission of a neighbouring nation.
But water experts warn that IRL will lead to a catastrophe. Physicist, Prof. Vikram Soni, contends that “rivers have an ecological identity which has evolved over millions of years and once damaged cannot be reclaimed. Already, our rivers are hopelessly overdrawn, silted and polluted and we cannot afford to cause further injury to the health of our river basins.”
Magasaysay awardee Rajendra Singh is also vehemently critical of this project warning that entire villages and towns will disappear apart from destroying millions of acres of forest and agricultural land.
“Each river has its own geo character and its flora and fauna are also different. By interlinking the river basins, everything will be destroyed,” said Mr Singh. The National Council of Applied Economic research in their study on the “Economic Impact of Interlinking of Rivers Program” had pegged the cost at `5,60,000 crores for 30 links at 2002-3 prices but experts maintain costs have doubled in the last decade.