Bhubaneswar: At a time when protests are on against the construction of a number of dams by Chhattisgarh on the upstream of the Mahanadi, the National Water Development Agency has submitted the pre-feasibility report of a river-linking project of the various rivers of Odisha.

Sources revealed that Odisha had requested the central government agency to prepare the report of three inter-state river linking projects that include Mahanadi-Brahmani, Mahanadi-Rushikulya and Vamsadhara-Rushikulya.

However sources said unlike the other two, the Mahanadi-Brahmani link project had been found techno-economically non-feasible.

In response to a question of BJD MP Narendra Kumar Swain, Union minister of state for water resources Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written statement on Monday: "The two links - Mahanadi-Rushikulya (Barmul) and Vamsadhara-Rushikulya - are now included in the Mahanadi-Godavari flood moderation scheme."

Meghwal said: "On the request of the state government, the National Water Development Agency had carried out alternative studies for the Mahanadi-Godavari link project with a proposed dam site at Barmul... Hydrological studies were also carried out through National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee. However, Odisha government did not agree with the water balance computed at Barmul dam."

Source said the state government was not excited about linking the Mahanadi and the Godavari, because it apprehends acute water shortage in the Mahanadi basin in the future.

Water resources secretary P.K. Jena said: "We will not have much water in the Mahandi river by 2051 to share with others."

Official sources said the state government apprehended that the Mahanadi river system would face a shortage of 10 lakh cusecs of water by 2051.

The state government also apprehends that with linking of the two rivers would submerge forestland in most parts of the Satkosia reservoir.

The proposed river linking project envisages diversion of Mahanadi water into the Godavari. It would be done by storing surplus water in a reservoir that would be built at Manibhadra in Nayagarh district and four other barrages.

The Manibhadra reservoir will be connected to Dowlaiswaram barrage on the Godavari in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh through a 932-km long link canal, which will pass through Nayagarh, Khurda, Ganjam and Gajapati districts of Odisha.

The project is said to have two objectives - increase the irrigation potential of the state as Odisha is among the states with lowest irrigation potential and control flood in the Mahanadi basin.

A central government official said an additional six lakh hectares of agricultural land in Odisha could be irrigated by this project. The Centre is eager to execute the project, as it is considered as key to the interlinking of the Brahmaputra and Cauvery rivers.

However, the state government is cautious, as attempts to build major dams on the Mahanadi had met with protests in the past.