Dear Abhisek: Good to hear from you. I too am from IIT KGP, '68/ Architecture/ RK Hall. Even better that you are from University of Minnesota. I will get to that later.
I will attempt to address your queries mostly from the Assam perspective and will not get into the various ramification of this scheme as it relates to the rest of India, mainly because I am not at all familiar with the issues involving the rest. You can however get some excellent info. on riverlinking on an India wide basis from the many thoughtful and well researched discussions in < http://groups.yahoo.com/group/riverlink >. Another interesting related site is <www.narmada.org/sandrp> where you will find some detailed information about some of the issues. >I wanted to know that what are the several problems >that you see in carrying out the >project, is it economic, technical, environmental or >something else. ** The issues as I see as very problematic are: social, environmental, economic, technical and political; in no particular order. I am not an engineer, not a sociologist, not an economist, not an environmentalist, and certainly no politician. But somewhat in line of my profession, architecture; I deal with all of the above, even though not in great depth. As I see it, in the Assam context the most significant of the issues are political, economic and technical. ** The Political/ Economic Issues: Assam is regularly devasted by floods every other year or even more frequently. But inspite of that nothing has been done to address the problem with an eye towards finding REAL solutions. Not that it is a deeply mysterious subject and the engineers do not know what to do. It has been a politically UNIMPORTANT issue to the Center, who has the resources to implement real solutions. Without going into the minutiae of the task, simply put, The Brahmaputra and many of its tributaries MUST be DREDGED-period. Without that Assam is doomed to be devasted by floods, even more frequently than ever before. And task is not limited to the borders of Assam-- dredging must be done in Bangladesh too, without which it cannot work. It is therefore an International problem as well, and leaving the B'deshis out of the loop is NOT an option. Less than two weeks ago, a Central minister was in Assam to show Delhi's solidarity with the miseries of Assam flood victims. I believe he was pressed to have Delhi declare Assam's annual flooding a National Problem. The minister did not hesitate to tell the Assamese, in no uncertain terms that it could not be done, because if Assam flooding is declared a National Problem, then Bihar, Bengal and others would demand the same too. Can't afford that. That simple! Now compare that statement to the same administration's avowed commitment to river-linking; at an astronomical cost, even by the most optimistic of estimates; to transport water to the arid regions from regions they have, in their infinite wisdom, declared to be "water surplus" areas, like Assam. THey have no trouble seeing surces of funds to build dams and reservoirs and interstate aqueducts to take water out of Assam, but have no money to expend on solving Assam flooding. Or for that matter Bihar and North Bengal's either. This is a POLITICAL problem. A very serious one. And it is NOT the first time Assam has experienced it. One might counter:'--- but they will take out only the excess flood waters , reducing flooding in Assam, a win-win solution.' I don't know what field of engineering you are involved with, but tell me, by exercise your reasoning abilities, if such an assurance holds any water? As long as we are on the political issues, let us also not forget Assam's circumstances, a region where nearly 40 insurgency groups, born out of political disaffection, are active. Even if we give into the politically inspired scheming as a substitute for reality and prefer to believe that: A dam or a series of dams would be built on the three forks of the Manas river, with a high enough reservoir below the Bhutan border. An east to west, elevated canal levee ( like the great wall of China) will be created linked by aqueducts over nearly 25 minor and major river systems flowing south from the Himalayas not to mention numerous other obstructions, including additional impoundments to pump water uphill. That water will be taken out in the rainy season ONLY, like promised, while all the other Himalayan rivers are also full. Never mind that the dam/dams also will be sitting smack -dab in the middle of one of the world's most seismically unstable areas, and thus could be placing huge populations in harms way. What do you think would happen if just one of the elevated aqueducts are blown up with a small plastic chrge by one of the insurgent groups ? What would it do the entire undertaking? Let us also keep in mind that this region , west of the Manas river is one of the most volatile of the NE right now. In the absence of any honest and good faith attempt to find political solutions to the region's problems, does this scheme sound realistic, prudent,and achievable? You be the judge. All of the above on the POLITICAL front alone. We have not even touched upon the social, environmental and technical issues. More on them later. Now about your association with U of Minnesota: This weekened I was in Chicago. I spent better part of Saturday scouring the Chicago public library for TOPOGRAPHICAL maps of Assam and the NE region. I did not find much, but found a reference in a publication called the Historical Atlas of South Asia, compiled by U of M, wherein there is a refrence map of topographical maps prepared by the Survey of India. It means these do exist. It will probably be impossible for us expats to get hold of these from GoI. But if U of M has them, you can help all of us looking at these issues with a critical eye, by locating them for us. Once we locate them we could arrange to get copies to see what the lay of the land is on the Manas to Kosi river-linking path and examine what the River-linking folks are not telling us, while solemnn assurances are given out that FEASIBILTY STUDIES are in the making. My haunch is that the feasibility studying, at least as far as the Manas Kosi linkage part is concerned, might be involved with finding out the obvious. Thanks in advance for any assistance from your side. More later, Chandan Mahanta St. Louis At 10:17 PM +0100 8/17/03, Abhishek Drolia wrote: >Mr Mahant, > > >I am interested in the crucial topic of river linking >of major Indian rivers which as >publicised can bring major benefits to the populace. > >After making a search in google i came to the mail >group in which you were >discussing about the several problems in linking the >rivers. > >As the rhethoric goes I am also very impressed by the >benefits of the project, but >there can be several problems in the implementation of >the project or may be the >project itself may not be feasible as you have tried >to point out in one of ur mails. > >I wanted to know that what are the several problems >that you see in carrying out the >project, is it economic, technical, environmental or >something else. > >As far as i understand you are from Assam and would be >more acquinted with the >horrendous flood situation every year there. What are >your suggestions to contain >these situations because every year millions of >Assamese get displaced by the flood >as far as i understand, though i should say that my >knowledge about the whole thing >is zero, so thatswhy i wanted to become more informed >about the whole situation. > >Are there ways through which this anomaly of flood in >one part of country and >drought in another part can be solved. I would be >grateful if you could reply to me at >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >I would like to give my introduction. > >I am an engineer did my B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur and >right now doing my >Masters in University of Minnesota(USA). > >Thanking You > >Abhishek Drolia > > > > >===== >Abhishek Drolia >University of Minnesota > >Home : Mail Box : >414 7th Ave SE Appt # A-204 4-174 EE/Csci >Minneapolis MN 55414 200 Union Street SE > Minneapolis MN 55414 > >________________________________________________________________________ >Yahoo! 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