Inter-Linking of River Projects

The National Perspective Plan (NPP) was prepared by the then Ministry of Irrigation (now Ministry of Jal Shakti) in August 1980 for water resources development through inter basin transfer of water, for transferring water from water surplus basins to water-deficit basins. Under the NPP, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has identified 30 links (16 under Peninsular Component and 14 under Himalayan Component) for preparation of Feasibility Reports (FRs). The details of above river linking projects viz. Rivers, States concerned is given at Annexure.

Draft Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Godavari-Cauvery link project consisting of three links viz; Godavari (Inchampalli/Janampet) – Krishna (Nagarjunasagar), Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) – Pennar (Somasila), Pennar (Somasila)-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link projects has been completed by National Water Development Agency (NWDA) and circulated to party States in March 2019. The comments of party States have been deliberated in a virtual meeting held on 18.09.2020.

Since no inter-linking of river (ILR) projects, including the Godavari-Cauvery link project has reached the stage of execution, as such no funds have been allocated for the project

                 The Government is pursuing the inter-linking of rivers (ILR) program in a consultative manner. A “Special Committee on Interlinking of Rivers” has been constituted in September, 2014 for the implementation  of  ILR  programme.  Eighteen  meetings  of the Special Committee have been held so far.

Further, a Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers has been constituted by MoWR, RD & GR (now Ministry of Jal Shakti) in April, 2015 and twelve meetings of the Task Force have been held so far. Efforts have been made for building consensus among the concerned States and also setting out road maps for implementation of the projects.

     The Godavari-Cauvery link project is planned in two phases. Phase-I relates to identifying the surplus waters in Godavari basin without affecting the interests of the co-basin States and transferring these waters upto Cauvery through Godavari-Cauvery link project; and Phase-II relates to linking Brahmaputra-Ganga-Subernarekha-Mahanadi-Godavari rivers thus enriching the Phase-I with suitable modifications. The draft DPR of Godavari-Cauvery link has been prepared considering the Phase-I option only.

The Government of Tamil Nadu requested that the last leg of the Godavari-Cauvery link project, namely, Pennar-Palar-Cauvery link canal reach may be taken at higher elevation after crossing Palar river by pumping from Dusi Mamandur Tank and terminate at Kattalai barrage instead of Grand Anicut in Phase-I itself. A preliminary draft concept note has been prepared by NWDA on the suggested higher level canal alignment. However, the same is subject to establishing its techno-economic viability. Further, the Government of Tamil Nadu requested that the Poondi reservoir may be linked with Araniyar reservoir so that 609 tanks with a capacity of 15 TMC can be filled. However, integration of Araniyar reservoir with Poondi reservoir is linked with the firming up of Phase-II of the proposal.

The envisaged total diversion under Phase-I is only 247 TMC, out of which, after meeting the enroute requirements in Telanagana and Andhra Pradesh, only 83 TMC could be planned at Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border. Government of Tamil Nadu has requested for providing 200 TMC of water for meeting their water requirements in the Phase-I of the project itself. However, the possibility of providing additional quantum of water to Tamil Nadu is linked with water to be brought through Phase-II of the project

AnnexurE

Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of Unstarred Question No. 3736 to be answered in LOK Sabha on 18.03.2021 regarding “INTER-LINKING OF RIVERS PROJECTS”.

Names of Inter Basin Water Transfer Links, the States involved, name of rivers and status of Feasibility Reports/Detailed Project Report

S. No	Name	Rivers	States concerned	Present Status
Peninsular  Component
1	Mahanadi (Manibhadra) -Godavari (Dowlaiswaram) link	Mahanadi  & Godavari	Odisha, Maharashtra,  AP, MP, Telangana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh	FR Completed
2	Godavari (Inchampalli) – Krishna (Pulichintala) link	Godavari  &   Krishna	Odisha, Maharashtra,  AP, MP, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh& Maharashtra	FR Completed
3	Godavari (Inchampalli) – Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) link	Godavari & Krishna	Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka &Chhattisgarh	FR & Draft DPR Completed
4	Godavari (Polavaram) – Krishna (Vijayawada) link	Godavari & Krishna	-do-	FR Completed
5	Krishna (Almatti) – Pennar link	Krishna  &Pennar	Maharashtra,  Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka &Telangana	FR Completed
6	Krishna (Srisailam) – Pennar link	Krishna  &Pennar	-do-	FR Completed
7	Krishna (Nagarjunasagar) – Pennar (Somasila ) link	Krishna  &Pennar	-do-	FR & Draft DPR Completed
8	Pennar (Somasila) – Cauvery (Grand Anicut) link	Pennar& Cauvery	Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala & Puducherry	FR & Draft DPR Completed
9	Cauvery (Kattalai) – Vaigai -Gundar link	Cauvery,Vaigai &Gundar	Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala & Puducherry	DPR Completed
10	Ken-Betwa link	Ken & Betwa	Uttar Pradesh  & Madhya Pradesh	FR & DPR (Ph-I,II & Comprehensive) Completed
11 (i)	Parbati -Kalisindh-  Chambal link	Parbati, Kalisindh& Chambal	Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan & Uttar Pradesh (UP  requested to be consulted during consensus building)	FR Completed
(ii)	Parbati-Kuno-Sindh link	Parbati, Kuno and Sindh	MP and Rajasthan	PFR completed $
12	Par-Tapi-Narmada link	Par, Tapi& Narmada	Maharashtra & Gujarat	DPR Completed
13	Damanganga – Pinjal link	Damanganga&Pinjal	Maharashtra & Gujarat	DPR Completed
14	Bedti – Varda link	Bedti&Varda	Maharashtra,  Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka	PFR Completed
15	Netravati – Hemavati link	Netravati& Hemavati	Karnataka, Tamil Nadu &  Kerala	PFR Completed
16	Pamba – Achankovil – Vaippar link	Pamba, Achankovil& Vaippar	Kerala & Tamil Nadu,	FR Completed
Himalayan Component
1.	Manas-Sankosh-Tista-Ganga (M-S-T-G) link	Manas, Sankosh, Tista and Ganga	Assam, West Bengal,  Bihar& Bhutan	FR completed
2.	Kosi-Ghaghra link	Kosi&Ghaghra	Bihar , Uttar Pradesh & Nepal	PFR completed
3.	Gandak-Ganga link	Gandak& Ganga	-do-	FR  completed (Indian portion)
4.	Ghaghra-Yamuna link	Ghaghra& Yamuna	-do-	FR completed (Indian portion)
5.	Sarda-Yamuna link	Sarda & Yamuna	Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand & Nepal	FR completed (Indian portion)
6.	Yamuna-Rajasthan link	Yamuna &Sukri	Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana & Rajasthan	Draft FR  completed
7.	Rajasthan-Sabarmati link	Sabarmati	-do-	FR  completed
8.	Chunar-Sone Barrage link	Ganga & Sone	Bihar & Uttar3 Pradesh	Draft FR  completed
9.	Sone Dam – Southern Tributaries of Ganga link	Sone &Badua	Bihar & Jharkhand	PFR completed
10.	Ganga(Farakka)-Damodar-Subernarekha link	Ganga, Damodar&Subernarekha	West Bengal, Odisha & Jharkhand	Draft FR completed
11.	Subernarekha-Mahanadi link	Subernarekha& Mahanadi	West Bengal  & Odisha	FR completed
12.	Kosi-Mechi link	Kosi&Mechi	Bihar , West Bengal & Nepal	PFR completed
13.	Ganga (Farakka)-Sunderbans link	Ganga &Ichhamati	West Bengal	FR  completed
14.	Jogighopa-Tista-Farakka link (Alternative to M-S-T-G)	Manas, Tista& Ganga	-do-	Dropped

$ Integration of Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project of Rajasthan and Parbati – Kalisindh – Chambal link.

• PFR- Pre  Feasibility Report
• FR- Feasibility Report
• DPR- Detailed Project Report

       This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Rattan Lal Kataria in Lok Sabha on Friday.

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