Inconsistency, or A Conspiracy? - The Ganga: Water Use in the Indian Subcontinent - page 108

Figures 8.1 and 8.2 show the Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system and the plan of
the Hooghly estuary (lower) respectively.
Dr. Rao further announced in Parliament on 3rd May 1973 that the flow of the
Ganga was such that it would not be possible to release into the Bhagirathi-Hooghly
more than 20,000 cusecs through Farakka Barrage from January to the first week of
May. Curiously, it was Dr. Rao himself, who had advocated linking the Ganga with
the Kaveri under his pet project, 'National Water Grid' so that part of the Ganga
water could be diverted to the arid regions of the Deccan (South India) which has
almost no perennial stream, comparable to any north Indian river. Dr. Rao did not
give any clear idea about the availability of lean-season flow, or about augmentation
of the Ganga flow, while formulating the Ganga-Kaveri link canal. Dr. Rao also drew
another scheme to link the Ganga with the Brahmaputra under the same 'National
water Grid' plan but he gave overriding priority to the Ganga-Kaveri link canal
which would carry between 40,000 and 100,000 cusecs of the Ganga water to the
southern river for 300 days in a year. This was an absurd idea and made questionable
the role played by him during his penultimate tenure as India's Irrigation and Power
minister, particularly when the construction of the Farakka Barrage was nearing
completion. Work on the main barrage was almost complete and the feeder canal
was in the focus.
Expectedly, this raised a hue and cry in West Bengal and within and outside
India's Parliament in 1972 and 1973. Ambiguity in Dr. Rao's statements created
serious uncertainties about the future of Calcutta port and its services to the city of
Kolkata. The details of Dr. Rao's plan were as under:

Period Release through Farakka barrage

1 From 20th June to end-December 40,000 cusecs

2 January to mid-March 40,000-20,000 cusecs

3 Mid-March to mid-May Up to 20,000 cusecs, or as available, and,

4 Mid-May to mid-June 20,000-40,000 cusecs

In monsoon months, the flows in the Bhagirathi would be far in excess of 40,000
cusecs. If the quanta of discharge, as proposed by Dr. Hensen, Dr. Rao and as
outlined in the project report, are compared, the following emerge as shown in
Table 8.1.

Minimum Release through
Farakka barrage Institute/Expert

I The River Research Institute, West Bengal 40,000 cusecs

II Dr. D. V. Joglekar, Director, CWPRS 40,000 cusecs

III Dr. A. C. Mitra, Chief Irrigation Engineer, UP 40,000 cusecs

IV Dr. J. J. Dronkers, Expert from Netherlands 41,000 cusecs

V Dr. Debesh Mukherjee, G. M. Farakka Project 40,000 cusecs