Interlinking of rivers should be a mega project and should not ultimately end up with linking Pamba-Achenkovil and Vaipar

Now the Supreme Court has given the green signal to interlink big rivers in the country to facilitate irrigation, generation of power etc.

The issue has been hanging fire for a long time, with even the Supreme Court earlier not amenable to giving the approval. There were many points for and against, the crucial problem being the huge amount required to execute the project.

In this context, there is a possibility that Tamil Nadu would use its clout to have the Pamba-Achenkovil-Vaipar river link at the earliest. Compared to water availability in big rivers like Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Cauvery etc, water availability in rivers in Kerala is meager, even though a sort of scare about floods is created every year during the monsoons.

Definitely there was a failure on the part of Kerala over a period of years to collect the flow of water during the monsoons and store it for better use later. That should not be construed as availability of excess water.

Let the Himalayan rivers and others like Cauvery which have plenty of water be linked first. Then only one should think about tinkering with Pamba, Achenkovil and Vaipar.
Ultimately, the mega project should not whittle down to Pamba, Achenkovil and Vaipar, in the guise of interlinking of rivers.