MP Dilip Saikia Urges Central Government to Reconsider National River Linking Project for Northeastern Flood and Drought Prevention

MANGALDAI: Dilip Saikia, Member of Parliament from Darrang Udalguri Lok Sabha constituency, on Monday demanded the Central Government to reconsider the National River Linking Project to prevent floods and droughts in Northeastern region including Assam in the Lok Sabha. He said in the Parliament today that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to implement an ambitious project of linking rivers with each other. This ambitious project was intended to involve 30 links to connect 37 rivers across the country through a network of about 3000 storage dams. Its aim is to meet the country’s water needs in the future. He also said that it has been stated several times in the Parliament on behalf of the Ministry of Water Resources that linking of rivers can play an important role in water management in the country. In view of this, a National Perspective Plan (NPP) was also prepared in August 1980 to transfer water from water-surplus basins to water-deficient basins. Finally, in its judgment dated 27th February, 2012, the Supreme Court directed the Government of India and particularly the Ministry of Water Resources to constitute a committee under the chairmanship of the Minister of Water Resources for the implementation of the programme of linking of rivers. After this, a special committee for linking rivers was formed on September 23, 2014 under the chairmanship of the Union Water Resources Minister for the implementation of the river linking programme.

 In the end, he requested the Central Government through the Lok Sabha Speaker to take concrete steps towards re-implementing the river linking project to protect Northeast India from floods and to ensure equitable distribution of water in the country and to immediately implement the National River Linking Project.

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