Bharti bats for river interlinking to mitigate flood problem

Union Minister Uma Bharti today pitched for interlinking of rivers to mitigate the problems floods and droughts in the long-run, apart from building large storages, an official statement said.
The Union water resources minister made the comment during a high-level meeting to review flood situation in the country and the actions being taken at the national level here, it said.
She reiterated that the Centre has received all the clearances required for the Ken-Betwa river linking project, which aims at fulfilling water requirement of Bundelkhand region falling in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Asserting that the government is "eager to implement the first interlinking project for the benefit of the people", Bharti said the Uttar Pradesh government has conveyed its support for the project, while response from the other beneficiary state, Madhya Pradesh, is "expected soon".

During the meeting, the minister was briefed that the Central Water Commission took "pro-active" steps by issuing around 3,200 flood forecasts to all agencies concerned.
According to the statement, the forecasts have been "extremely beneficial" for the district administrations in timely evacuation and saving of lives of millions of people.

The ministry has also issued seven specific district-wise advisories on anticipated floods and dam-wise advisories for water release, wherever applicable, to facilitate early deployment of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) or State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and operation of reservoir gates, the statement said.
It said three-day advance flood advisories based on rainfall-runoff model have been made available online for all the 19 river basins for the benefit of all stakeholders since June 2017.

At present, states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam are faced with flood situation, causing loss of lives and damages to properties.
The statement said, "Bharti emphasised that long-term solution to mitigate floods and droughts lies in the interlinking of rivers along with building of large storages."
The minister said that detailed project report of Damanganga-Pinjal link and Par-Tapi-Narmada interlinking projects are in "advanced stage".
Further, the Kosi-Mechi link and Kosi-Ghagra link envisaged in the Himalayan region would greatly attenuate high intensity of floods in the Ganga Basin, she said.
Bharti said the Centre was in "continuous dialogue" with Nepal government at various levels to mitigate the devastation due to floods caused by rivers coming from Nepal through planning of various storage dams jointly.

"In Brahmaputra basin, a committee of the ministry has assessed storage requirements of 9.2 BCM in Siang, 0.6 BCM in Dibang, 1.61 BCM in Lohit and 1.91 BCM in Subansiri sub basins.
"A proposal for construction of single-stage Siang Upper multipurpose storage is under active consideration of the ministry," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Bharti will visit Uttar Pradesh on August 21 and Bihar on August 25 for discussions on flood-related issues with the state governments.
She is also planning to visit Uttarakhand in connection with India-Nepal Pancheshwar Multipurpose project, the statement said.
Ministry secretary Amarjit Singh is already on a visit to Assam for the survey of flood affected areas.