In A series of meetings held on interlinking of rivers in Delhi, today was the turn of the business consortium, CII, to organise a round table on the Prime Minister’s dream project.The chairman of the task force to interlink rivers, Suresh Prabhu, indicated that private participation will be sought for funding the 5,60,000-crore mega project. He tried to convince the audience that the cost of rehabilitation will be inbuilt as in the Three Gorges dam project of China.‘‘In a project with an expected cost of hundreds of crores, private participation could be sought and some charges might be levied on direct beneficiaries too,’’ Prabhu said. He did not rule out the participation of international funding agencies while emphasising that there won’t be a single-handed dependence on grants and aids.The project is expected to irrigate an additional 150 million hectares of land, besides generating 35,000 MW of electricity.‘‘India is a big country with big problems and we need to think big,’’ said Prabhu while selling the project as not just another hydro-project but as something that will help solve India’s poverty and unemployment problems. He said it will be difficult to think of surpassing the 8 per cent growth rate for eradicating problems of poverty and unemployment without mega projects like linking of rivers.The round table with representatives from engineers, students to academicians was informed that the latest technology, including GIS and satellite imagery, will be put to use while preparing the feasibility reports for greater accuracy.‘‘The interlinking of rivers across the country will lead to national integration at a macro level,’’ said Prabhu, adding that the concept was not new. The government was now moving rapidly on the implementation of the project, he said.‘‘All efforts are being made to avoid any ecological damage. Contrary to depleting the forest cover, this project will help in creating new forest cover,’’ Prabhu said.The financial resources annually required for the river project will be less than 1 per cent of the GDP and creation of a huge number of jobs during the implementation of the project and other downstream jobs will be an added advantage, Prabhu said.According to the government, this project does not mean that rainwater harvesting is the need of the hour. ‘‘This will compliment the project and not be an alternative,’’ said Prabhu.
