Is Rs 5L cr river networking project feasible, asks SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday wanted to know the fate of the ambitious Rs 5 lakh crore river interlinking project, mooted by then President A P J Abdul Kalam and vigorously pursued by the NDA government, and wanted Attorney General G E Vahanvati to apprise it of its status.


“The project has to be feasible and work itself out. We want a statement from the government whether it is feasible, if so how and when will it be possible at what cost. We want to know the details from the AG,” said a Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar.

Sparks flew in the court when appearing for an intervenor, advocate Prashant Bhushan questioned the public interest involved in a mammoth scheme that was as good as getting minerals from the moon. He also alleged officials were being forced to keep the project alive because of the misconception that it was a court-mandated project.

While amicus curiae and senior advocate Ranjit Kumar dispelled the alleged notion about it being a court-mandated project, senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the Kerala government, said there was no doubt that it was a beneficial project which had the potential to substantially control floods and provide water to drought prone areas. “The issue is a little sensitive given the perennial dispute over water between states and the Centre needed to take some pro-active step, as mandated under the Constitution, to forge ahead with the idea initiated by the former President,” Salve said. And if for this, a little nudge here and there was required, the SC should do it for the greater good, he added.

The Bench said: “We do not doubt the benefits from the scheme. We will do whatever is good for the country. But we want to know what is the status and whether it is feasible.” It asked the Centre to file a report on the status of the project in eight weeks.

The fate of the ambitious Rs 5,00,000 crore project proposing linkages between major rivers by the year 2016 has virtually remained a non-starter and the detailed project report (DPR) is virtually in cold storage. On Thursday, the case was listed for the 24th time for hearing since the SC issued notice on the matter in September 30, 2002 acting on amicus curiae Ranjit Kumar’s application in the ‘Maily Yamuna’ matter.

Kumar had filed the petition following the then President’s 2002 independence day-eve speech to the nation suggesting interlinking of rivers to curtail shortage of water and control floods.