Eighth Meeting of Special Committee on Interlinking of Rivers to be held on Monday

Eighth meeting of special committee on interlinking of rivers will be held in New Delhi on next Monday to review the progress of Interlinking of rivers in the country. Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti will chair the meeting. Water Resources Ministers and senior officials from various states will be attending the daylong meeting.

The meeting is expected to discuss issues such as status of Ken- Betwa link project Phase-I and II, status of Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada link projects, Intra –state link proposals and restructuring of National Water Development Agency.

Interlinking of River (ILR) programme is of national importance and has been taken up by the Government on high Priority. The mission of this programme is to ensure greater equity in the distribution of water by enhancing the availability of water in drought prone and rainfed area through interlinking of rivers. The Ministry has already identified 14 links under Himalayan Rivers component and 16 links under Peninsular Rivers component for inter basin transfer of water based on field surveys and investigation and detailed studies.

Union Cabinet in its meeting held on July 24, 2014 approved the constitution of the Special Committee on ILR. Accordingly, Special Committee on ILR was constituted vide order dated September 23, 2014. The first meeting of the committee was held on October 17, 2014. The committee, after considering the views of all the stakeholders, is proceeding ahead to expedite the objectives of the interlinking of rivers as per terms of reference. Vigorous efforts have been made for generating consensus with development of alternative plans and also setting out road maps for implementation of projects.