Interlinking of Rivers of India; Problems and Prospects

The proposed Interlinking river network is a mega project comprising of a system of interlinked projects and has to be therefore subjected to multi-disciplinary scrutiny. It is a large scale Civil-Engineering project. The people involved in the decision making of rivers do not look into the holistic view of the situation but only examined it by associating it with their knowledge and expertise in special fields, democratic action enlightened self-interest by all citizens of India in the need of the hour. The ILR should be implemented in an eco-friendly manner and that the benefits will surely outweigh the cost. Interlinking of rivers is (ILR) government of India's proposal to link 37 rivers through 30 links, dozens of large dams and thousands of miles and canals making it the largest water project in the world. It aims to transfer water from water-surplus to water--deficit areas and thus proposes to provide a permanent solution the paradox of floods and droughts. Of the thirty links proposed fourteen are in the Himalayan and sixteen in the peninsular component