Contentious river interlinking projects—benefits and concerns
On the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday initiated the long-pending and contentious Ken-Betwa River Linking National Project, laying the foundation stone of the Daudhan Dam.
Modi said the government is accelerating the campaign to link rivers in the country and Madhya Pradesh has become the first state to initiate projects under the ambitious plan.
The interlinking of rivers is said to be the dream project of Vajpayee.
Once completed, Ken-Betwa project will provide irrigation to parched lands.
At the same time, it will also submerge land, displace people and possibly affect wildlife.
No wonder the interlinking of rivers is a contentious issue with supporters as well as critics.
Ken-Betwa and water challenges
The Ken-Betwa project is the first project under the national plan for interlinking of rivers for solving water-related challenges in the county.
Broadly, there are 30 proposals—16 links in the peninsular component and 14 in the Himalayan component—under the proposed plan for development of rivers links in the country to solve water issues.
Terming water security as one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century, the PM said that countries and regions with sufficient water will progress.
The Ken-Betwa Link Project will open new doors of prosperity and happiness in the Bundelkhand region, he added.
This project will be constructed in a period of eight years in two phases.
The aim is to provide irrigation and domestic water supply facilities to drought-prone areas—Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Panna, Damoh, Vidisha, Sagar, Shivpuri, Datia and Raisen districts of MP and Mahoba, Banda, Jhansi and Lalitpur districts of UP.
According to the Jal Shakti Ministry, the project will provide irrigation to 10.62 lakh hectares—8.11 lakh ha in MP and 2.51 lakh ha in UP.
It will also supply drinking water to about 62 lakh people and generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power.
Surplus water of Ken basin will be diverted to water-short areas of Betwa basin.
Phase I includes building the Daudhan Dam complex and its subsidiary units like the Low Level Tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa Link Canal and power houses.
Phase II includes Lower Orr Dam, Bina Complex Project and Kotha Barrage.
The total length of the link canal will be 221 km, including 2-km tunnel.
Bundelkhand region
The project will “immensely benefit” 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh collectively called the Bundelkhand region.
Bundelkhand is a semi-arid region of India which includes seven districts (Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Banda and Chitrakoot) of Uttar Pradesh and six districts (Datia, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Damoh and Sagar) of Madhya Pradesh.
In spite of being rich in minerals, the people of Bundelkhand are poor and the region is underdeveloped and underrepresented in state and central politics.
According to the government, the project will not only benefit water-starved regions of MP and UP but also pave the way for more river interlinking projects to ensure that scarcity of water does not become an inhibitor for development in the country.
ILR—the criticism
River interlinking offers solutions to water scarcity and drought-related challenges. At the same time, there are also concerns about its impact on ecosystems, forests, biodiversity, wildlife and communities.
It will exacerbate social and economic inequalities, claim critics.
Under the National Perspective Plan (NPP), the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) identified 30 links (16 under Peninsular Component and 14 under Himalayan Component.
The NPP was prepared in August 1980 by the then Ministry of Irrigation, christened Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation by the Narendra Modi government for transferring water from surplus basins to deficit basins.
The five priority links under the Peninsular component include Ken-Betwa link project (KBLP) Phases I and II, Damanganga-Pinjal link project, Par-Tapi-Narmada link project, Mahanadi-Godavari link project and Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal link project.
Environmentalists say “large-scale deforestation inside the heart of the Panna National Park and Tiger Reserve” and “shifting large quantities of water” will harm wildlife, biodiversity, forest cover and also affect land-atmosphere interplay and feedback and cause rainfall deficiency in the region.
Besides, there are also issues related to economic viability of the project which will submerge large amounts of land and affect many families. The land acquisition process has been seeing protests related to “inadequate compensation and low benefits”.
Environmentalists say rivers are “living, breathing entities and cannot be treated like highways”, that interlinking will not just destroy forest areas and affect wildlife but also “allow free transport of invasive organisms and affect biodiversity”.
Using explosives to bombard rocks and create infrastructure may result in further hazards, they say, calling for attaining the “right balance between potential benefits and potential risks” while going ahead with such projects.
