Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal Organisation entrusted with the task of flood forecasting & early flood warnings in the country. Presently, CWC issues flood forecasts for 331 forecasting stations (199 river level forecast stations & 132 dam/ barrage inflow forecast stations). These stations cover 20 major river basins in 23 States & 2 Union Territories. As per flood forecasting network of CWC, during the last 3 years, in addition to existing flood prone states of Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, extreme floods (water level above previous Highest Flood Level) were witnessed in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan due to excess to large excess rainfall in these states combined with extremely heavy rainfall in short duration.
National Water Development Agency (NWDA) under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has been entrusted with work to undertake studies and prepare reports for Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) as per National Perspective Plan (NPP). Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) Programme envisages transfer of water from surplus basins to deficit ones and this will help in mitigating the effect of floods and droughts. National Water Development Agency (NWDA) identified 30 links (16 under Peninsular Component & 14 under Himalayan Component) for preparation of Feasibility Reports (FRs). As per the assessment of NWDA, about 166 BCM of waters would be diverted through the 30 link projects including provision of 14.00 BCM of waters for domestic & industrial uses. The implementation of National Perspective Plan would provide benefits of 25 million ha of irrigation from surface waters, 10 million ha by increased use of ground waters, raising the ultimate irrigation potential from 140 million ha to 175 million ha and generation of 34 million KW of power, apart from the incidental benefits of flood control, drought mitigation, navigation, water supply, fisheries, salinity and pollution control etc. Implementation of the inter-linking of rivers programme requires consensus among the concerned states. The Government is pursuing the inter-linking of rivers (ILR) program in a consultative manner and has accorded top priority.
As per National Water Development Agency, the status of National Perspective Plan links for rivers in the State of Bihar are as under-
| Sl. No. | Name of link | Present Status |
| 1. | Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga Link | Feasibility Report completed |
| 2. | Kosi-Ghaghra link | Pre-Feasibility Report completed |
| 3. | Gandak-Ganga link | Feasibility Report completed (Indian portion) |
| 4. | Ghaghra-Yamuna link | Feasibility Report completed (Indian portion) |
| 5. | Sarda-Yamuna link | Feasibility Report completed (Indian portion) |
| 6. | Chunar-Sone Barrage link | Draft Feasibility Report completed |
| 7. | Sone Dam-Southern Tributaries of Ganga Link | Pre-Feasibility Report completed |
| 8. | Kosi-Mechi link | Pre-Feasibility Report completed |
The status of Intra-state link projects in the state of Bihar is as under-
| Sl. no | Name of link project | Present status |
| 1 | Kosi – Mechi link | DPR completed. Environmental clearance accorded. Investment clearance recommended. |
| 2 | Burhi Gandak-None-Baya-Ganga link | DPR completed. CWC opined that the project may be considered as Flood Moderation project. Informed to Govt. of Bihar. |
| 3 | Kosi-Ganga link | PFR completed. |
| 4 | Sone- Falgu link | Preliminary study has been taken up. |
This Information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, ShriBishweswarTuduin a written reply in LokSabha today.
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