(a) whether the Government has any proposal to implement inter-linking of river projects in
the wake of the recent direction by the Supreme Court;
(b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the stipulated time frame for their completion;
(c) the details of the recommendations of the taskforce, if any, constituted for the
purpose; and
(d) the funds spent so far to carry out the inter-state river link proposals?
THE MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND WATER RESOURCES
(SHRI PAWAN KUMAR BANSAL)
(a)to(d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (d) OF THE STARRED QUESTION NO. 58
TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.03.2012 IN LOK SABHA REGARDING INTER-LINKING OF RIVERS
(a)&(b) The certified copy of the recent direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court has so far
not been received in Ministry of Water Resources. 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 as per Annexure – I.
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 links for taking up their Detailed
Project Reports (DPRs). DPR of one priority link namely Ken-Betwa has been completed and was
communicated to the party states. Modifications of the proposals 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.
The specific time frame for completion of the individual link project can be identified only
after the details project report are techno-economically approved.
(c) A Task Force on Inter Linking of Rivers (TF-ILR) under the Chairmanship of Shri
Suresh P. Prabhu, the then Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) was constituted during December,
2002 The Task Force completed its work and submitted Action Plan – I during April, 2003
giving outline of time schedule for completion of Feasibility Reports, Detailed Project
Reports, Estimated Cost, Implementation Schedule, concrete benefits and Advantages of the
project. Action plan – II giving alternative options for funding and execution of the
projects and suggestion on methods for cost recovery etc. was also submitted during April,
2004. The Task Force was wound up w.e.f. 31.12.2004 on completion of its mandated task.
The recommendations of Task Force are given at Annexure-II.
(d) The expenditure incurred by NWDA on various studies on interlinking of rivers,
till February, 2012 is Rs. 350.5 crore.