GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1395
TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2012
RIVER LINKING PROJECTS
1395. SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR
Will the Minister of WATER RESOURCES be pleased to state:-
(a) The present status of the river interlinking projects in the peninsular component; and
(b) What steps are being taken by Government to ensure consensus and cooperation of the concerned States?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES & MINORITY
AFFAIRS
(SHRI VINCENT H. PALA)
(a) The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) (erstwhile Ministry of Irrigation) had formulated a
National Perspective Plan (NPP) for Water Resources Development as early as 1980 envisaging inter-basin transfer of water from surplus basins to deficit basins/areas which comprises two components, namely, Himalayan Rivers Development Component and Peninsular Rivers Development Component. The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) was set up under the Ministry of Irrigation in 1982 for carrying out various technical studies to establish the feasibility of the proposals of NPP and to give concrete shape to it. NWDA has already identified 14 links under Himalayan Component and 16 links under Peninsular Rivers Component. Out of these Feasibility Reports of 14 links under Peninsular Component and 2 links under Himalayan Component (Indian Portion) have been completed.
Five Peninsular links namely (i) Ken - Betwa, (ii) Parbati - Kalisindh - Chambal, (iii) Damanganga - Pinjal, (iv) Par - Tapi - Narmada & (V) Godavari (Polavaram) - Krishna (Vijayawada) have been identified as priority kinks for taking up their Detailed Project Reports (DPRS). DPR of one priority link namely KenBetwa has been completed and was communicated to the party states. Modifications of the proposal and final Detailed Project Report preparation have been taken up by NWDA in light of observations of the concerned states. The Ken-Betwa link project has been included in the scheme of National Projects.
Further, after receiving the concurrence of the concerned states, NWDA has taken up the DPRs of two more priority links namely Par-Tapi-Narmada & Damanganga-Pinjal. A tripartite
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for preparation of DPR of both these links was signed by the Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra and the union Minister for Water Resources on 3.05.2010. The DPRS of these links are under progress. The status of links under Peninsular Component of NPP is given in Annexure.
(b) The Government has constituted a Consensus Group headed by Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC) and consisting of Secretaries of Irrigation/Water Resources Departments of the concerned States for arriving at consensus regarding sharing of surplus waters and to discuss issues of preparation of Detailed Project Reports by NWDA. So far ten meetings of the consensus group have been held. The consensus building for eight more links under MahanadiGodavari-Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar linkage system for taking up their DPRS with concemed states has been initiated.
The issues related with the inter-basin water transfer proposals under NPP are regularly discussed with the officials of State Governments at the meeting of the Governing Body (GB) and Society of NWDA. So far 57 meetings of GB and 26 meetings of Society have been held.
ANNEXURE REFERRED T0 IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1395 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2012 IN RAJYA SABHA REGARDING RIVER LINKING PROJECTS
STATUS OF WATER TRANSFER LINKS IDENTIFIED FOR PREPARATION OF FEASIBILITY REPORTS (FR) BY NWDA
Peninsular Rivers Development Component
1 |
Mahanadi (Manibhadra) - Godavari (Dowlaiswaram) link |
FR completed |
2 |
Godavari (Polavaram) - Krishna (Vijayawada) link *) |
FR completed ( Taken up by the state as per their own proposal) |
3 |
Godavari (lnchampalli) - Krishna (Pulichintala) link |
FR Completed |
4 |
Godavari (lnchampalli) - Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) link |
FR completed |
5 |
Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) - Pennar (Somasila) link |
FR completed |
6 |
Pennar (Somasila) - Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link |
FR completed |
7 |
Cauvery (Kattalai) - Vaigai - Gundar link |
FR completed |
8 |
Parbati - Kalisindh - Chambal link* |
FR completed |
9 |
Damanganga - Pinjal link* |
FR completed |
10 |
Parbati - Kalisindh - Chambal link* |
FR completed |
11 |
Damanganga - Pinjal link* |
F R completed & DPR started |
12 |
Par - Tapi - Narmada link* |
FR completed & DPR started |
13 |
Ken - Betwa link* |
DPR (Phase-I) Completed |
14 |
Pamba - Achankovil - Vaippar link |
FR completed. |
15 |
Netravati - Hemavati Link |
PFR completed |
16 |
Bedtì - Varda link |
FR work taken up |
*Priority links
PFR- Pre Feasibility Report; FR- Feasibility Report; DPR- Detailed Project Report