Ken, Betwa inch closer

India first river-interlinking project on Ken and Betwa rivers in Central India has received ‘in principle’ approval of the Environment ministry, almost a decade after the project was conceived.

Updated on: Jan 10, 2011, 23:19:22 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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India first river-interlinking project on Ken and Betwa rivers in Central India has received ‘in principle’ approval of the Environment ministry, almost a decade after the project was conceived.

The approval came after repeated requests of project proponent, Madhya Pradesh government, even though environment minister Jairam Ramesh and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had conceptually opposed inter-linking of rivers.

In the Rs 10,000 crore project water from river Ken in Uttar Pradesh will be diverted into river Betwa in Madhya Pradesh, requiring huge track of forestland from Panna Tiger Reserve. Environment groups have opposed the project saying that it will devastate local ecology, as large part of forest area in and around Panna will be submerged.

While acknowledging the environmental impact, the ministry recently approved the terms of reference, also called in principle approval, for doing preparatory work for constructing a dam on river Ken near village Daudhan and a 231 km long canal to transfer water in Barwa Sagar reservoir. Water from reservoir will be diverted into Betwa river.

The dam site is inside Panna Tiger Reserve, which now has relocated tigers after losing its native species in 2008.

The Environment Appraisal Committee (EAC), while approving terms of reference made it mandatory for the Madhya Pradesh government that it will have to seek approval of National Board for Wildlife before public hearing for acquiring land at the project site is conducted.

To protect the local flora, the committee has asked the MP government to conduct a floral survey of all plants and a study done regarding aquatic bio-diversity of Ken River.

“A proper plan for conjunctive water use may be prepared identifying the proportions of use of surface and groundwater,” the EAC said in its approval note for the project.

The project has been pending with EAC for close to four years as it refused approval to pre-construction activity because it was in Panna Tiger Reserve. After persistent appeals from the MP government, the committee agreed.

Understanding river interlinking

The idea was first mooted in early 1980s.

Under the plan the water from overflowing rivers was to be diverted to water deficient rivers through construction of dams and canals.

For the next 15 years, it remained an idea.

In mid 1990s, the NDA government got a study done to identify rivers for river water inter-linking.

Ken-Betwa rivers were identified for the first project, for which a feasibility study was done.

In 2005, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh government to divert 2,000 million cubic metre of water.

In 2006, the MP government sought environment clearance for the project

In 2007, EAC refused to give approval, citing proposed submergence of land in Panna Tiger Reserve in MP.

In December 2010, the in principle approval to the project given.

The project will take at least nine years to complete.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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