The Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR) Project in India is one of the most gigantic water-transfer projects ever envisaged in the entire world. This involves 30 (or 29) links of 37 rivers all over the country. Its cost was officially projected at Rs. 11 lakh crore (one crore=10 million) in 2016, although this is now considered an underestimate. This project was[Read More...]
For a long time a gigantic and recklessly ambitious project proposed in India for linking about 37 rivers at 30 or more places had been largely dormant. Things started moving in its favor after the 2014 elections and the installation of the NDA government. Within about two years this project had been pushed ahead quite a bit.Now with the[Read More...]
The Ken-Betwa River Link Project (KBRLP) is one of the most disputed river projects of India. Involving two states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, this Rs. 35000 crore ( Rs. 3500 billion) project involves the construction of a dam and a 230 km canal, largely ( but not entirely) in Bundelkhand region of these two states, to take the[Read More...]
The debate has intensified on whether nearly 2 million trees which are threatened by the Ken Betwa Link project in Bundelkhand region can be saved. In order to consider options, let us first remember that the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court of India had presented a strong critique of several aspects of this very expensive project, now[Read More...]
On World Water Day March 22 the signing of an agreement between the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh for implementing the controversial Ken-Betwa Link project in drought-prone Bundelkhand region of Central India was presented as a matter of celebration, but questions are being raised asking what achievement, even less joy, there is in going ahead with a project[Read More...]
Imagine you had an infection on your finger-tip, and your doctor decided to amputate your arm without exploring the possibility of curing the infection first. India’s National River Linking Project (NRLP) is just as ludicrous. The NRLP was conceived to primarily address the problems of water scarcity and periodic floods in different parts of the country. This ambitious project envisages[Read More...]
