River linking will help TN, hurt state: Siddu

NT Correspondent

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Leader Siddaramaiah has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of chief ministers of southern states and also call an all party meeting to discuss the linking of south Indian rivers at a cost of Rs 46,000 crore, as proposed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the Union Budget 2022-23.

Addressing a news conference here on Friday, he opined that it was not a feasible project and might have been proposed by Ms Sitaraman because she is from Tamil Nadu. The Union Government has proposed the linking of Krishna, Godavari, Pennar and Cauvery rivers and this is said to have been discussed in the National Jal Abhivrudhi agency. According to them, around 370 tmc ft of water would be available and would be distributed among all southern states.

The Congress leader said Karnataka has the biggest area under dry farming in the country after Rajasthan. Here, 70 per cent of the area is rain-fed. If river linking happens, a major portion of water would go to Tamil Nadu. Without seeking permission of the states concerned, the Union government cannot take unilateral decisions. Implementation of this project without a discussion would pave the way for a water row among the states which was why a meeting of CMs is needed, he said.

“According to my knowledge, it will benefit TN 90 per cent and the other states to the extent of 10 per cent. In 1978, then Prime Minister Morarji Desai had proposed lthe Ganga-Cauvery linking project. Former PM, Atal Behari Vajpayee had proposed a similar project. Instead of working on those projects, the NDA Government wants to take up linking of rivers of southern states”, the former CM said.

Siddaramaiah said so far, no BJP MP, ministers or lawmakers have commented on this project which shows they are ready to sacrifice the state’s interests. The CM must convene an all party meeting an put all facts and figures before the meeting. Two ministers, R.Ashok and K.S.Eshwarappa have claimed that this project was not discussed in the Cabinet, he added.