CM SEEKS CANALISATION OF 3 MAJOR RIVERS

CHANDIGARH: Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged the Union government to take up canalisation of the state’s three eastern rivers of the Indus Water System as a national project to enable conservation of water and enhancement of the region’s economic growth.

In his proposal presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting in New Delhi, the CM suggested construction of high-speed economic corridors on the 985-km-long river embankments, apart from river training works, flood protection measures and lining of internal side-slopes of the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas.

Expressing concern over the state’s reduction in Jal Shakti at the time of India’s partition and against during the reorganisation of the state in 1966, the CM pointed out that the three perennial rivers of Sutlej, Ravi and Beas irrigate only about 27% of the state’s cultivated area, leading to over-exploitation of the groundwater.

It is apprehended, he said, that seven districts of the state will transform into a desert in the near future, with sure signs of poverty revisiting these areas.

Underlining the need to increase water productivity through augmentation and strengthening of water management, control and regulation infrastructure, Captain Amarinder suggested launch of the canalisation project with the Sutlej river, which would require an investment of about ₹4,000 crore over a period of three to five years, exclusive of external incentives such as commercial exploitation of government and private land and waiver of taxes, duties and cesses, as relevant.

The task may begin with a feasibility study that may be assigned to techno-economic experts of international repute, he suggested.