CHENNAI: Governor K Rosaiah on Saturday said it was high time that plans were formulated to conserve flood waters.
Speaking at the valedictory of the two-day conference on ‘River linking by national waterways’, organised by VIT University and National Waterways Development Technology (NAWAD TECH), he said “it is a mammoth and time consuming task, but harvesting this water and diverting them for storage is imperative. This will improve the water table.” The State government, he said had urged the Centre to immediately start the work on interlinking peninsular rivers.
VIT chancellor G Viswanathan said, “Even though there is excess water, we are unable to utilise it. There is a need to augment agricultural production in order to feed the growing population. Hence, implementation of National Waterways Project is imperative.”
Explaining the advantages of the project, AC Kamaraj, chairman of NAWAD TECH said, the waterways project was akin to the ‘golden quadrilateral project’.