Ken-Betwa River interlinking project

#GS-01 Geography, #GS-03 Infrastructure, Environment Conservation

The Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) aims to transfer surplus water from the Ken River in MP to Betwa River in UP to irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region.
The water is to be transferred through the construction of the Dhaudan Dam built within the Panna Tiger Reserve and a 221 km-long canal.
The project will meet the irrigation purposes, drinking water, and electricity needs of 6 districts in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
It is expected to have an approximate cost of ₹44,605 crore at the 2020-21 price level.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Centre and the governments of UP and MP on World Water Day (22nd March 2021) for implimenting the project.
The Ken-Betwa Project will be the first project under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the interlinking of rivers.
The project has been suffering constant delays due to political and environmental issues.

The Ken River is a tributary or Yamuna and it originates on the north-west slopes of Kaimur Range in Jabalpur district and travels a distance of 427 km, before merging with the Yamuna.

The Betwa River rises in the Vindhya Range just north of Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh from where it travels a distance of 654 km till it reaches its confluence with river Yamuna.

Diversion or stopping or enhancement of the flow of water into or outside wildlife sanctuaries/parks is prohibited in general.
The only exception to this prohibition being when doing so is deemed to be necessary to improve and better manage wildlife within.
A Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court was constituted to check the need in case of Dhaudan Dam.
The committee decided that such diversion to not be necessary to improve and better manage wildlife in the case of the Panna Tiger Reserve.
Additionally, the Ken Gharial Sanctuary which was created to protect the critically endangered Gangetic gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) lies downstream to the national park.
The proposed dam would have a destructive impact on the flow of water into and outside of this sanctuary,
Another concern is that the government’s plan is based on a ‘surplus and deficit’ model that is said to have little basis in science.

For more updates, click here

Believers IAS Academy