Kalam backs river inter-linking project

Former president APJ Abdul Kalam once again pitched for his pet project, the inter-linking of Indian rivers, by suggesting that the Brahmaputra could be transformed into a 'smart' and 'vibrant' waterway.

Addressing the 14th convocation of the IIT at Guwahati, Kalam said the concept of a nationwide smart waterway linking all the major rivers could be initiated from the Brahmaputra in Assam.

''What we need is a smart waterway in the Brahmaputra, a waterway which would be navigable 24 hours,'' the former president later told reporters. ''Like the national power grid, we need a national waterway and Brahmaputra should be the starting point.''

He also reiterated his backing for the river inter-linking project, which got a boost recently, after the Supreme Court approved the proposal and directed the setting up of a high-powered committee to implement it.

''The Brahmaputra is very close to me,'' Kalam told the IIT students. ''Yesterday and even today I visited the river bank.'' He pointed out that India's core competence was in areas such as agriculture, food processing, electricity, surface transport, infrastructure, education, healthcare and information and communications technology.

By 2020, the country should narrow the rural-urban divide and ensure equitable distribution of energy and quality water.
 
The inter-linking of rivers is a concept that keeps cropping up, especially during the years of drought. It was first mooted in 1972, when a minister suggested building a 2,600-km-long canal between the Ganga and Cauvery rivers. Plans for the 'garland canal' were taken up and in 1982, a National Water Development Agency was established.