GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF
WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANAGA REJUVENATION
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED
QUESTION NO 2060
ANSWERED ON
04.12.2014
INTERLINKING OF RIVERS
2060 . Mishra Shri Anoop
Chaudhary Shri P.P.
K. Shri Parasuraman
Raghavan Shri M. K.
Premachandran Shri N.K.
Pradhan Shri Nagendra Kumar
Owaisi Shri Asaduddin
Baheria Shri Subhash Chandra
Patil Shri Kapil Moreshwar
Mohan Shri P. C.
Singh Shri Rama Kishore
Will the Minister of
WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANAGA REJUVENATION
be pleased to state:-
(a) the details of the meeting of special committees set up on interlinking of rivers including
representatives of State Governments who attended the meeting;
(b) whether the Government proposes to invoke Entry 56 to List 1 of 7th Schedule of the constitution for
interlinking of rivers and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor especially regarding the
linking Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar rivers as requested by Tamil Nadu;
(c) whether any study has been conducted with regard to the volume of water in each river and if so, the
details thereof including suggestions received from the respective States;
(d) whether the Government has conducted any environmental impact study for the linking of PambaAchankovil-Vaippar rivers as requested by Tamil Nadu and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) whether the Union Government has received any proposal from the Government of Rajasthan and
public representatives to provide water from Sabarmati River of Gujarat to Pali, Sirohi and Jodhpur
districts of Rajasthan and if so, the steps being taken by the Government in this regard?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION
(PROF. SANWAR LAL JAT)
(a) The first meeting of the Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers (ILR), chaired by Hon’ble Union
Minister of Water resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation was held on 17.10.14 at New
Delhi. Irrigation/Water Resources Ministers of State Governments of Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and
Telangana along with the Secretaries of various States attended the meeting. Issues pertaining to
background of Interlinking of Rivers, directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court for functioning of the
Committee were discussed. It was decided to constitute sub-committees to expedite the objectives of
the interlinking of river as per terms of reference of the Committee.
(b) Government has no proposal to invoke Entry 56 of List 1 of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution of
India for interlinking of rivers programme, including Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar rivers. The Government
is pursuing the inter-linking of the rivers programme in a fully consultative manner with the cooperation
and in coordination with the States concerned as also in accordance with the directions of the Hon’ble
Supreme Court in the matter.
(c) Central Water Commission has assessed the average annual water availability in the country as 1869
Billion Cubic Meters (BCM). However, the utilizable water resources, considering topographic,
hydrological and other constraints, have been estimated to be about 1123 BCM comprising 690 BCM of
surface water and 433 BCM of replenishable ground water. A statement indicating the State-wise
availability of ground water resources is given at Annexure I. The average water resources potential and
utilizable surface water resources have been assessed basin-wise and the details are at Annexure II.
(d) As there is no consensus among concerned States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Pamba-AchankovilVaippar Link, NWDA has not taken up any Environmental Impact Study for the Project.
(e) NWDA has not received any proposal from the Government of Rajasthan to provide water from
Sabarmati River to Pali, Sirohi and Jodhpur districts of Rajasthan. However, two intra-State link
proposals i.e.
(i) Mahi – Luni link and
(ii) Wakal – Sabarmati – Sei – West Banas – Kameri link have been received from Government of
Rajasthan for studies. Pre-feasibility Reports of these two intra-State links have been prepared by NWDA
and sent to Govt. of Rajasthan. These links have not been found technically feasible for transfer of water
as the concerned sub basins were found water deficit.
ANNEXURE
Annex- I
(Annexure referred to in reply to Parts (c) of Unstarred Question No 2060 to be answered
on 04.12.2014 in the Lok Sabha regarding Interlinking of Rivers)
STATE WISE GROUND WATER RESOURCES AVAILABILITY
(AS ASSESED IN THE YEAR 2011)
Sl.
No.
1
States / Union
Territories
Andhra Pradesh
Annual Replenishable
Ground Water Resource
(In Billion Cubic Meter)
35.89
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
(undivided)
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chhattisgarh
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu & Kashmir
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal
Andaman & Nicobar
Chandigarh
Dadar & Nagar Haveli
Daman & Diu
Lakshadweep
Puducherry
Grand Total
4.51
28.52
29.34
12.42
0.31
0.24
18.57
10.78
0.56
4.25
6.31
17.03
6.69
35.04
33.95
0.44
1.78
0.03
0.62
17.78
22.53
11.94
21.53
2.59
77.19
2.04
29.25
0.31
0.02
0.06
0.02
0.01
0.19
432.72
Annex-II
(Annexure referred to in reply to Parts (c) of Unstarred Question No 2060 to be answered
on 04.12.2014 in the Lok Sabha regarding Interlinking of Rivers)
WATER RESOURCES POTENTIAL OF RIVER BASINS OF INDIA
S. River Basin
N
o.
Average
Water
Resources
Potential
(In Billion
Cubic
Meter)
73.3
1 Indus
2 Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna
(a) Ganga
525.0
(b) Brahmaputra
537.2
(c) Barak & others
48.4
3 Godavari
110.5
4 Krishna
78.1
5 Cauvery
21.4
6 Subernarekha
12.4
7 Brahmani-Baitarni
28.5
8 Mahanadi
66.9
9 Pennar
6.3
10 Mahi
11.0
11 Sabarmati
3.8
12 Narmada
45.6
13 Tapi
14.9
14 West Flowing Rivers from Tapi to
87.4
Tadri
15 West Flowing Rivers from Tadri to
113.5
Kanyakumari
16 East Flowing Rivers between
22.5
Mahanadi and Pennar
17 East Flowing Rivers between
16.5
Pennar & Kanyakumari
18 West Flowing Rivers of Kutch and
15.1
Saurashtra including Luni
19 Area of Inland Drainage in Negligible
Rajasthan
20 Minor Rivers draining into
31.0
Utilisable
surface water
resources
(In Billion
Cubic Meter)
46.0
250.0
24.0
76.3
58.0
19.0
6.8
18.3
50.0
6.9
3.1
1.9
34.5
14.5
11.9
24.3
13.1
16.5
15.0
---
Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh
Total
1,869.4
690