KEN BETWA RIVER LINK PROJECT

KEN BETWA RIVER LINK PROJECT

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Recently on January 18, the Steering Committee of the Ken-Betwa Link Project held its third meeting in New Delhi. It was chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• The Minister noted that KBLP was a flagship project of the national government and that it is critical for the water security and socio-economic development of Bundelkhand region.

ABOUT KEN BETWA RIVER LINK PROJECT

• The project was approved by Union Cabinet in December 2021 at a total cost of ₹44,605 crore.
• In this project, the National and the Madhya Pradesh governments will link the Ken river with the Betwa river so that the Betwa river can water the drought-prone Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh.
• Ken-Betwa is one of the 30 river interlinking projects conceived across the country.
• The link will be in the form of a canal that will be fed by the new Daudhan Dam on the Ken, to be built within the Panna Tiger Reserve.
• DAUDHAN DHAM : Daudhan dam will be built on the Ken river inside the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. According to national government the dam will generate 103MW of hydroelectric power.
• BENEFICIARY DISTRICTS : The linking canal will flow through Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts, with the project expected to irrigate 6.3 lakh hectares of land every year.

ISSUES IN KEN BETWA LINK PROJECT

• ECOLOGICAL DISTURBANCES : According to some hydrological and ecological experts the government’s plan is based on a ‘surplus and deficit’ model and that they have said has little basis in science.

They are also concerned that the project will endanger the water security of Panna.

• DEFORESTATION & LOSS OF HABITAT : The proposed Daudhan dam will submerge an area of around 9,000 hectares of land, of which 5,803 hectares lies within the Panna Tiger Reserve. A total of 6,017 hectares of forest land will have to be cleared, of which 4,141 hectares are within the sensitive core of the tiger reserve. In all, an area equivalent to 8,427 football fields will have to be deforested.
• It is also noted that the interlink would adversely impact wildlife, including the tigers of Panna and the gharials of the Ken Gharial Sanctuary downstream of the proposed dam.
• CHANGE IN CHANNEL MORPHOLOGY : Hydraulic geometry of channel (channel width, depth, stream velocity and sediment load) would get altered as inter-liking will significantly alter the watershed conditions.
• SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES : large scale displacement of local, especially tribals, without adequate rehabilitation mechanism, would lead to socio-economic crises in form of loss of livelihood, lack of health facilities, spread of disease, food crises, hunger deaths etc.
• There may not be enough water in the Ken, a non­perennial river, to meet the projected needs of the Betwa vis-a-vis forget the needs of the Bundelkhand re­gion.
• FEDERAL ISSUES : It may also intensify water conflicts between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The two states couldn’t agree on how water would be shared, particularly in the non-monsoonal months.

LEGAL HURDLES & OBSERVATIONS OF CENTRAL EMPOWERED COMMITTEE (CEC) OF SUPREME COURT

• The project’s environment clearance is currently in a state of challenge at the National Green Tribunal because the tribunal believes the project must first secure forest clearance. The final forest clearance is awaited.
• In the downstream of the national park lies the Ken Gharial Sanctuary, created to protect the critically endangered Gangetic gharial. The destructive impact of the proposed dam on the flow of water into and outside of this sanctuary should be imme­diately clear.
• The CEC is quite firm in its report that “the Standing Committee of the National Board For Wildlife has not considered the impact of the project on the downstream gharial sanctuary”.
• The CEC also observed that the, “approval by the Standing Committee of the NBWL to the KBLP has not been proved to be necessary for the improvement and better management of the wildlife therein as provided in Section 35(6) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972”.

WAY FORWARD

• Independent experts have observed that it will be more economical and faster if the governments restored Bundelk-hand’s erstwhile Chandel-period lakes and ponds and if they replicated the successful field-pond schemes on priority.
• Groundwater depletion should be arrested through suitable recharging of the water aquifers.
• The necessity and feasibility of river-interlinking should be seen on a case to case basis, with adequate emphasis on easing out federal issues.

SOURCE : THE HINDU

SYLLABUS : MAINS, GS-3 Agriculture, Irrigation & Environment