PUNE: Union minister for water resources, river development and ganga rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari has called for a general consensus for interlinking of rivers from all the states concerned so that unutilized water draining into the sea could be diverted to the needy areas.

National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has received 47 proposals of intra-state links from 9 states so far that includes Maharashtra , Gujarat, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.

The successful completion of these projects will lead to reduction in disasters during floods, improved irrigation facilities, employment generation in rural agriculture, and increase in exports and decrease in migration from villages.

Addressing a meeting in the capital, Gadkari called upon states to discuss and sort out issues through active consultation so that the projects can be implemented on priority.

Reiterating that the project for interlinking of rivers is very important for enhancing water and food security of the country and essential for providing water to drought prone and water deficit areas, Gadkari said that steps have been taken for early implementation of five interlinking projects and Memorandum of Agreement for implementation of these projects is being finalised in consultation with the state governments concerned.

These five projects include Ken-Betwa link project, Damanganga-Pinjal link project, Par-Tapi-Narmada link project, Godavari-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link project and Parvati-Kali Sindhu-Chambal link.

The minister has also suggested that it is high time to think about a proper legal mechanism to resolve inter-state and Centre-state issues for these projects.

He added that river interlinking projects envisage that the surplus water available in Himalayan Rivers be transferred to the areas where there is water scarcity.

The minister has asked states to identify the river basins which have surplus water availability from where water can be transferred to deficit areas so that drought in those areas can be mitigated, agricultural production could be increased, resulting in the upliftment of socio-economic profile of the society.

