Thaindian News

Hyderabad, Oct 9 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said interlinking of rivers was “not an easy task” and its environmental fallout would have to be studied first, days after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi voiced his opposition to the proposal.
He said all aspects would have to be looked into while considering the proposal. He was addressing a press conference after an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Andhra Pradesh.

“The proposal of interlinking the rivers is there for a long time. This is not an easy task. There is also talk of environmental hazards this may lead to. We will have to take all issues into consideration. There is need to do more work on this,” he said.

His reply came after a journalist wanted to know his reaction to the remarks by Rahul Gandhi and union Minister for Environment Jairam Ramesh, opposing the idea of interlinking the rivers.

Jairam Ramesh had recently said that interlinking of rivers would be a human-ecological-economic disaster while Rahul Gandhi had last month warned against playing with nature.

It was the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government which had mooted this idea.

The prime minister also said tragedies like the floods in Andhra called for some introspection.

He said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) would be asked to critically evaluate the causes of these tragedies. “One learns from the experience,” he said when a reporter asked if the calamity called for better early warning systems.

“If there are any lapses it will be looked into,” Singh said when his attention was drawn to criticism by opposition parties that the authorities had failed to prevent the floods in Krishna river.