Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Scheme to resettle river link project evacuees

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD May 28. The chairman of the task force on inter-linking of rivers, Suresh Prabhu, has said a "special purpose vehicle" would be created to take care of rehabilitation and resettlement of evacuees of the rivers linking project.

A budget would be set up for the purpose right at the start of the project so that there were no glitches in the work as it progressed. Mr. Prabhu told a southern regional convention on inter-linking of rivers, organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) here today. He said any project would lead to large-scale migration and the problem of rehabilitating the migrants was serious in the country.

He said the project implementation should be a transparent and humane one. There was a multi-purpose dimension to the project which would bring about a national transformation. It was a programme of changing the socio-economic face of the country and not merely confined to water use alone.

The vision of the President and the Prime Minister to make India a superpower by 2025 on the basis of self-sustenance would come true with the project. Food security, which was so essential for this, would be strengthened with the foodgrains production going up from the present 212 million tonnes to 450 million tonnes. "Indians will be able to eat as much as the Chinese and work equally hard. Their consumption will no longer be at subsistence levels'', Mr. Prabhu said.

Stating that "security" was the foundation on which the project was based, Mr. Prabhu said the project would address the issue of internal security as it would ensure unity in the country. Hydel generation will go up to 35,000 MW which would make power supply cheap. The country would be able to produce clean energy without creating environmental problems.

The task force chairman said what was of concern was the adverse environmental impact of the implementation of the project. Comprehensive studies would be taken up involving the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, and the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, the latter's participation to see that wildlife and their habitats were protected.

High simulation models would be prepared by the IITs and hydrologists to take care of climate change. The studies would be made available for public hearing at several centres in the country.

Mr. Prabhu allayed fears that water would be taken away from surplus States. The sharing of water by the States would remain the same and as awarded by various tribunals.

The Union Minister of State for Railways, B. Dattatreya, called for the inclusion of technocrats of drought-affected and backward areas in the task force.

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