Government forms task force on interlinking of rivers

The government has constituted a task force on interlinking of rivers comprising experts and senior officials, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The task force, constituted by the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, will be chaired by B.N. Navalawala, the water ministry's communique said, adding that it will take up issues for expediting work on interlinking of rivers in the country.

It said apart from examining the existing links that are laid out as per the national perspective plan, "the task force would also consider alternative plans in place of infeasible links in the present plan".

The task force would facilitate "interlinking of intra-state and intra-basin rivers also along with that of inter-state and inter-basin links".

It will recommend time schedules for completion of feasibility studies and detailed project reports of all the links, implementation schedule and funding mechanisms.

The release said that the task force would device suitable mechanisms to bring a speedy consensus amongst the states.

"The task force would also try to forge a consensus amongst the states in order to take forward the speedy implementation of the interlinking of rivers," it said.