Gadkari seeks states cooperation on river interlinking

New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday called upon state governments to cooperate with each other and with the central government to expedite the projects for interlinking of rivers.

Addressing the 14th meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers here, he said the measure inter-linking of rivers will bring a big social economic change in the country, and usher in prosperity in many regions that are poorly developed at present.

"If we are able to save the enormous amount of river water that gets lost to the seas as run-off, and are able to divert this to water deficit regions, we can solve the problem of water scarcity that exists in several states," Gadkari said.

The Minister however added that while implementing the river interlinking projects, the rehabilitation of displaced persons must be fully ensured.

He said he was pained to see a large number of displaced persons still awaiting rehabilitation at various project sites which have been completed long back, a government statement said.

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