Apropos the edit “Giant and impractical” (March 12), the broader objective of river inter-linking is mitigation of water scarcity. India is on its way to becoming water stressed — that means it will have less than 1700 cubic meters of water available per capita per year. Besides, many of its regions are confronted with drought and floods every year. There is no substitute to handling such adverse conditions other than river inter-linking. Though there may be environmental adversities caused due to the restriction or diversion of flow of rivers but we need to keep in mind the goal of long-term sustainable development. Such environmental concerns were solved in the past, too, during the construction of big dams like Sardar Sarovar, Nagarjuna, Tehri and so on. India badly needs water resources development that can be achieved only through inter-basin transfers.
Sushil Bakliwal Jaipur
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