The newly constituted Task Force on Inter-Linking Rivers will look afresh at all the proposed links to evaluate their feasibility, particularly in maintaining a balance between environment and development. Links that are found unfeasible will be abandoned. Speaking exclusively to The Hindu , task force chairman B.N. Navalawala said the panel would work out a “mechanism” that will bring “benefits” to the surplus States when they shared waters with deficit regions. “The programme will not be imposed on States and persuasion shall be the key word,” he said. Intra-basin transfer Intra-basin transfer of waters was equally important. The rainfall distribution in the country, even within a State, was uneven. Therefore, while facilitating inter-linking of rivers, the task force would also look at intra-basin transfer. “That way, waters can be transferred within a State without any inter-State issues,” he said. Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan, he said, were some of the “tailend” States. To start with, the Ken-Betwa link between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh would be taken up. That would be followed by the Daman Ganga-Pinjar Par-Tapi-Narmada links between Maharashtra and Gujarat. For the remaining links, efforts would have to be made to win over Kerala, Odisha and Karnataka who were opposed to the programme. Dr. Navalawala, a former Water Resources Secretary, said the starting point of transferring waters to the southern regions would be the Godavari. The National Water Development Agency proposal was to link major river systems where surpluses from the Godavari and Mahanadi were intended to be transferred to deficit areas in the south. It will work out a “mechanism” that will bring “benefits” to surplus States when they shared waters with deficit regions