President revives river linking project

A project virtually abandoned by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was sought to be revived by President APJ Abdul Kalam in his Independence Day address to the nation.

Referring to the recent floods in Maharashtra and other states, the President said the ambitious project of inter-linking of rivers should be implemented with a "sense of urgency" and efforts should be made to overcome "various hurdles" in its way.

It was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government that set up a commission under former Power Minister Suresh Prabhu to suggest ways in which rivers could be inter-linked.

The commission was wound up by the UPA government and managers scoffed at a project that would just be a drain on national resources. The President has revived the project.

The President also stressed the need for achieving "energy independence" by evolving a comprehensive renewable energy policy and accelerating research for forecasting earthquakes.

"While we are celebrating 59th anniversary of our hard-earned political independence, we have to remember the sufferings of our people affected by the recent rains and floods in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa," Kalam said in the address which focused almost wholly on science and technology aspects.

Reminding the nation that Mumbai and other areas of Maharashtra had borne the brunt of nature's fury, he said "rainfall and floods are annual features in many parts of the country".

He emphasised that "instead of thinking about inter-linking of rivers only at times of flood and drought, it is time that we implement this programme with a great sense of urgency."

"We need to make an effort to overcome various hurdles in our way to the implementation of this major project. I feel that it has the promise of freeing the country from the endless cycle of floods and droughts," he said.

Coining a new phrase, the President said the country needed to critically look at the requirement for energy independence in different ways in two major sectors""power generation and transportation.

He emphasised the greater need for tapping energy sources such as solar and nuclear energy besides generating power from municipal wastes.

By 2030, Kalam said, the demand from the power sector would increase to 400,000 mw from 120,000 mw, assuming an energy growth rate of five per cent per annum.

At present, the country has an installed capacity of about 121,000 mw, which is three per cent of the world capacity, Kalam said. The country was also dependent on oil to the extent of 114 million tonnes every year, 75 per cent of which was imported and used almost entirely in the transportation sector, he added.

On using nuclear energy sources, the President said there would be a requirement for a 10-fold increase in nuclear power generation to attain even a reasonable degree of energy self-sufficiency for the country.

"Therefore, it is essential to pursue the development of nuclear power using thorium, reserves of which are higher in the country," he said.

The Left parties had criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's deal on nuclear energy with the US and one of the grounds of criticism was that the indigenous research for thorium-based reactors would be stunted by the deal.

In his speech, Kalam said technology development had to be accelerated for thorium-based reactors since the raw material for thorium was abundantly available in the country.