This can be an ecological and socioeconomic disaster for millions of village people. The numerous negative aspects have been debated for the past 30 years. Diverting freshwaters from the Brahmaputra, for instance, will lead to reduced outflows in the Bay of Bengal, leading to accelerated salinization of coastal groundwater, seawater traveling upstream further in the dry season, siltation and reduced nutrient input into the sunder bans estuary with grave consequences for marine fisheries and the livelihoods of millions. Interlinking, and changing the natural flow regimes of rivers will affect fisheries, water quality and availability for all riverine communities. Excess irrigation can lead to salinization of inland farms, as has been happening in Punjab. A few stakeholders benefit ( power companies, construction companies. large agribusinesses ) while the rural communities and the ecosystem pays for this. Folly. In most of the developed world, such projects are being pulled out and the natural flow in rivers being restored. And in India we are still proposing Nehruvian grand solutions which have been shown to be extremely harmful.
Published by Amartya Saha, Ecohydrologist and Instrumentation Specialist at Archbold Biological Station
This can be an ecological and socioeconomic disaster for millions of village people. The numerous negative aspects have been debated for the past 30 years. Diverting freshwaters from the Brahmaputra, for instance, will lead to reduced outflows in the Bay of Bengal, leading to accelerated salinization of coastal groundwater, seawater traveling upstream further in the dry season, siltation and reduced nutrient input into the sunder bans estuary with grave consequences for marine fisheries and the livelihoods of millions. Interlinking, and changing the natural flow regimes of rivers will affect fisheries, water quality and availability for all riverine communities. Excess irrigation can lead to salinization of inland farms, as has been happening in Punjab. A few stakeholders benefit ( power companies, construction companies. large agribusinesses ) while the rural communities and the ecosystem pays for this. Folly. In most of the developed world, such projects are being pulled out and the natural flow in rivers being restored. And in India we are still proposing Nehruvian grand solutions which have been shown to be extremely harmful.
1 Comment
Amartya Saha it is nice to see your comments however every thing has his benefits and disadvantages. It depends that how you are looking in to it.
Published by Aniruddh Gupta