Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 946 - 7 Canal Projects

April 3rd 1675

With the government giving a stellar performance and presenting an outstanding report card for the public to inspect, the reputation of the government, as well as the confidence the people had in it, was not only maintained but also increased. The opposition, who were trying to open up a crack in the Cabinet that has remained unchanged for the last two and a half decades, were left disappointed. They could only hope that the government slips up in the next two years so that they could take advantage of the situation when the time came.

After the excitement settled down, Vijay called for a cabinet meeting in the Simhasana Bhavana and even summoned the twenty-three Chief Ministers of the Empire for the first time.

Ganesh personally welcomed each and every Cabinet and Chief Minister personally, showed them to their seats, and had some refreshing beverages served while he was at it.

" I wonder, why do you think we were summoned? "

Narasimha Modi, the Chief Minister of Solanki Puri, seated in the back row, questioned Chandra Shekhar Dhawan, the Chief Minister of Sindhu who was sitting right next to him.

Chandra Shekhar simply shrugged and waved his hand, " Who knows, but it is bound to be something important, or else why would all of us be invited by the Emperor’s office, for the first time ever, no less "

The Chief Minister of Baluchistan, Yudhendra Baloch, who had been listening quietly, leaned forward and whispered, "I heard that His Majesty had been trying to arrange this meeting since the year-end summit, but it kept getting delayed due to scheduling issues. Looks like today is the first time we’re all free. And judging by how tightly the information is being guarded, even people in the central government don’t seem to know, we’ve definitely been summoned by the Emperor’s personal will."

The person in front, hearing this, turned around and added, "There’s some truth in what Mr. Baloch said. I wasn’t free today either, I had an appointment with a professor at BIT University. But I had to postpone it, since His Excellency Ganesh personally insisted that I attend this meeting."

Narasimha Modi immediately recognised who the person in front of him was.

" Oh, it’s Chief Minister Karamveer, hello sir, I haven’t got a chance to get acquainted ", he did a namaskara with respect, the person was none other than the Chief Minister of Mourya Nagari, K G Karamveer.

Karamveer immediately shook his head and smiled, " It is a great honour to make the acquaintance of you, sir Modi. I have heard a lot about you",

" I hope it is all good things "

"Haha Of course sir "

When the Chief Ministers were all conversing with one another, Ganesh came into the conference room and informed them that his majesty would be entering in a few minutes

Everyone quieted down and patiently waited

---

Vijay casually strolled into the conference room and stood in front of everyone, while behind him, a person from the Emperor’s office came in carrying large stacks of maps and proceeded to hang them on the board one by one.

" Finally, all of you are in one place ", Vijay started off with a sigh.

" With the success of the Great Southern Bhartiya Canal Project, we now have a proof of concept to build long canals for better water security within the empire."

" So now we no longer have to develop the canals in the northern part of the empire so covertly, we can directly form a public infrastructure construction project and manage it like the Great Southern Bharatiya Canal Project under the Mega Project Management Department."

" I have come up with 7 different canal projects located all over the empire, each serving different purposes, difficulty and length, but overall, if these projects are completed, our empire does not have to worry about water security for many centuries."

The person who was hanging the maps on the wall completed his work and left.

The ministers, who now got to see the full view of the multiple maps hung on the board, were all stunned. The blueprint was too grand.

" Your Majesty, this....", Vinod was stunned. He thought that the construction of the Great Southern Bhartiya Canal Project was already difficult, but now, looking at each and every one of the projects that were more difficult than the other, he did not have words to speak.

" This, this is too outrageous", a Chief Minister sitting at the back of the crowd couldn’t help but exclaim, which caused everyone to stare at him, making him cover his mouth tightly and lower his head in fear.

Narasimha Modi became a little excited because among the seven canal projects displayed on the board, one was actually extremely beneficial to his state, and it also looked to be the most doable. His heartbeat increased and he was feeling restless, but he continued to maintain his expression as if nothing happened.

Hearing the soft murmurs and light exclamations, Vijay’s brows furrowed and he raised his hand, " Quiet down "

Like students who were caught red-handed by the principal, all the ministers, even the Cabinet ministers, immediately silenced themselves, trying to control their breathing, afraid that they would breathe too heavily and make a sound.

Vijay pointed at a map on the board and spoke out,

" The first canal project will be the Sabarmati and Banas Canal Project, connecting the two rivers of Sabarmati and Banas with an estimated length of 200 km. "

" This canal will help water-starved areas of Southern Pratihara Puri and increase the water flow through both the Sabarmati and Banas rivers."

" The second canal project will be the Indravati and Mahanati Project, stretching 250 kilometres, and as the name suggests, it will be connecting the two rivers, Indravati and Mahanati. This canal will be extremely helpful to supply water to the iron industrial zone in Gangapuri and increase the water utilisation rate as a whole."

" The third canal project, Tungabhadra and Kaveri Project, spanning over 400 km, will help increase the water security in the dry parts of Vijayanagar and Cholapuri."

" And the next...", " Your Majesty!! "

" Yes, Nirmal, what is it? "

" Your Majesty, wouldn’t it be better to directly connect the Kaveri River with the Great Southern Bharatiya Canal? "

" It will be like creating a water highway from the interior of Vijayanagar in the west to the Bengal Sea in the east."

Vijay shook his head. "It can be done, but have you considered the consequences of changing the salinity of the Kaveri River?

The part that flows through Vijayanagar state won’t be affected, since it’s on high ground, and in order to connect the Kaveri to the Great Southern Bharatiya Canal, the new canal will have to be built in the middle of the river, right at the intersection of Vijayanagar and Cholapuri.

This means, if you do link it there, then the river flowing through Vijayanagar will remain fresh, while Cholapuri will turn salty, completely destroying a perfectly good freshwater source that could have been used for agriculture in Cholapuri.

It’s simply more trouble than it’s worth. Maybe in the future, if better desalination techniques are developed, then it would be a great idea, but not now."

As soon as Vijay finished speaking, Kumar, who always had a rivalry with Nirmal, Minister of Communications, quickly added in a teasing voice, " It looks like Minister Nirmal sees transportation lines even in his sleep, Your Majesty. He wants to turn all the rivers into highways for ships."

" hahaha"

" hehe"

A loud laugh was immediately heard from Kiran Poojari and the Cabinet ministers, while the Chief Ministers tried their best to hold in their laughter, but still a few snickers could be heard.

Even Vijay chuckled lightly, shook his head, and continued,

" Moving on, it is the Lumi Yamuna Canal, spanning over 750 KM, which will be dug from the beginning of the Lumi River in Pratihara Puri to Yamuna right at Indraprastha, not only providing a much-needed lifeline to the arid region of Pratihara Puri but also increasing the water channels in the southern part of Yudheya Nagari to further develop the Indogangetic plain agricultural industrial zone."

" The fifth canal project will be the Tapi, Wainganga and Mahanati Canal Project, stretching 850 KM, which will connect the three inland rivers and form a complete linkage from the West Coast to the East Coast, providing much-needed irrigation to the central region of the empire."

Yudhendra Baloch, who was sitting silently and listening with interest, was suddenly confused. " Isn’t Tapi, a river flowing into the Arabian Sea, technically connected to Godavari and Mahanati, rivers flowing into the Bengal Sea? Then, doesn’t it mean with the construction of the proposed Canal, the ecological environment of all the 3 rivers and the connecting rivers will be destroyed?" He intended to keep his voice down, but his naturally high-pitched voice ended up being louder than he wanted and was heard by everyone.

Vijay, who heard the question, looked at the person who asked it. Identifying the person as Chief Minister Baloch, he did not point out anything and simply answered, " Water always flows from high places to low places, so even if the Tapi, Godavari and Mahanati will be indirectly connected due to the canal and theoretically ends up making a way for ships from the Arabian Sea to come into the Bay of Bengal, it is impossible for the water to go uphill, and since the central region of Bharath is several hundred metres above the sea level, water coming from the sea is impossible unless there is a tsunami."

’Although...ships can’t travel through this route now as they cannot sail against the current, it is completely possible if the steam engine is added,’ Vijay said to himself. When he thought about it, he figured out more routes that could be connected this way. On the west coast, Tapi, Narmada, Mahi and Sabarmati can be the gates, while on the east, Godavari, Mahanadi, Brahmani, Subarnarekha, Ganga and Brahmaputra can be used as gates. All in all, a robust internal transportation network can be formed.

Coming back to his senses, Vijay felt that some people might still have misunderstandings. So he quickly cleared up any doubts about the workings of the Great Southern Bharatiya Canal.

" If any of you are wondering why the Great Southern Bharatiya Canal is becoming salty despite its central area being high above sea level, it is because bridges and gates have been added to raise the level of water in sections so that the ships could travel, and in the canals we will be building now, such a mechanism will not be added and the river will still stay filled with fresh water."

Chief Minister Baloch was a little embarrassed but still nodded his head with understanding.

" Moving on, the 6th canal project will be the Narmada, Betwa, Parbati, Chambal and Mahi Canal Project, stretching 850 KM, that will be used to form a massive reservoir in the state of Paramara Puri (Madhya Pradesh), which can act as a lifeline to all the nearby states. Basically, this project is aimed to form an inland sea the size of a few thousand kilometres."

" Finally, the largest and the longest canal project will be the Ganga, Subarnarekha, Brahmini, Sone and Narmada Canal Project, which will not only divert a large part of the water that will be flowing into the Bengal Sea into central Bharatiya lowlands but also give more boost to the rivers that are usually dependent on the monsoons by bringing in water from the Himalayas. Additionally, this canal could be used to divert away water from the northeast in case of floods or divert it to the northeast in case of famine. This will be the longest canal, stretching over 1250 kilometres."

" The projects will be started sequentially, but the construction and work should be happening in at least one project at all times, for example, if the weather conditions are not right to work on the Kaveri and Tungabhadra Canal Project, then the work will be shifted to the Indravati and Mahanati Canal Project, so on and so forth."

" The resources required to complete all the canal projects are immeasurable, so I will not ask the government to invest a fixed number of resources."

" Since the projects are all on a massive scale, I will not even put a deadline for the completion of the project. However, what I will say is that all seven canal projects are extremely important to the empire’s water security and internal transportation, so I will expect the government to set aside a certain percentage of the GDP in order to fund the infrastructure project."

" Whether the 7 projects will eventually be divided into 1000 or 2000 projects, I do not care. My only demand is that progress should be seen every year. The Ministry of Transportation can bundle the projects with road construction and railway construction projects on the banks of the canal when you approach the construction firms as well. I will allow it as long as the division is clearly made in the report submitted to me. If the Minister of Communication wants to join in and plan to install the Arkha Dristi Communication Towers on the banks of the canals, you can do that as well. The government will have as much freedom as it needs, but the only thing I need from the government is the commitment of a certain percentage of the GDP and at least 10 million people employed by the projects for a long time."

Vijay feels that for all the projects to be completed, it may take two or three decades, and he was not being unrealistic, because even though the Great Southern Bharatiya Canal Project took 13 whole years in actual work, it only took that long because everything had to be done manually. He knows that in a few years, trains, steam-powered trucks and excavators will have been invented, and when these machines are then put into use, the time taken to transport the gravel and dig the ground will be cut short by half or even more. Worst comes to worst, everything will be done in 40 years, and the Bharatiya Empire will be ready 100 or 150 years beforehand, before the climate situation changes due to the infrastructure projects in Suvarna Dwipa.

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