India is a land of intense climates which includes its rainfall patterns which are very skewed. Most of the rainfall in India takes place inside a span of about one hundred days throughout the Monsoons. Adding to the climate diversity are the geographical variations which make India household to some of driest and wettest locations in the globe. Spread among Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the area of Bundlekhand is one of the most drought prone regions in the nation. The frequency and intensity of drought in Bundelkhand has now improved in final handful of decades. Agriculture in the area is heavily dependent on rain and it is a diverse, complicated, below-invested, risky and vulnerable preposition. In addition, the region also witnesses quick-term heavy rain and flooding in the fields which add to the uncertainties. These extremes gets additional difficult by the scarcity of water in the semi-arid area of Bundelkhand with poor soil and low farm productivity.
Bundelkhand area is surrounded a quantity of rivers of the Ganga-Yamuna river basin. The Yamuna river is to the North of Bundelkhand, Ken river is in the east and Betwa and Pahuj rivers are in the west. Yamuna river flows from west to east and is fed by its tributaries from Bundelkhand region– the Betwa, Ken, Pahuj, Baghain, and Paisuni. Almost half of the water offered in Bundelkhand’s upland and plain sub-regions is contributed by the Betwa river which originates in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district, south of Bhopal. The second important contribution of water in the Bundelkhand area comes the Ken river which is about 25%. Both the rivers flow south to north in the states of UP and Madhya Pradesh. Ken and Betwa are really critical for irrigation in the area. A program to interlink these rivers was envisaged in the late 80s to transfer water from water surplus river basins to water-deficit ones. The project was revised in the late 90s but by no means saw the light of the day.
Recently, on March 22, on the occasion of World Water Day, a memorandum of understanding was signed among Union Minister of Jal Shakti and the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to implement the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) producing it the very first project of the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended occasion organized virtually and also saw participation of the CMs of each the concerned states.
The statement released during the occasion read, “The agreement heralds the beginning of inter-state cooperation to implement the vision of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to carry water from areas that have surplus water to drought-prone and water deficit areas, through the interlinking of rivers. This project involves the transfer of water from the Ken to the Betwa River through the construction of Daudhan Dam and a canal linking the two rivers, the Lower Orr Project, Kotha Barrage and Bina Complex Multipurpose Project.”
The Ken-Betwa Link Project will be completed in two phases. In its very first phase, work on Daudhan dam complicated and its low and higher level tunnels, hyperlink canal to connect Ken and Betwa and energy homes will be completed. Its next phase will witness the building of Lower Orr dam, Bina complicated project and Kotha barrage.
MoA for Ken Betwa Link Project pic.twitter.com/piMgxFmM9E
— Central Water Commission (@CWCOfficial_GoI) March 22, 2021
The KBLP project is anticipated to provide annual irrigation of 10.62 lakh hectares, 62 lakh folks will get drinking water provide and it will also produce 103 MW of hydropower, according to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry. The price of Ken-Betwa Link Project at 2017-18 rates, according to the Comprehensive Detailed Project Report or CDPR, is estimated at Rs 35,111.24 crore.
The project is anticipated to quench the thirst of water-starved area of Bundelkhand, which includes the the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen of Madhya Pradesh and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh. The good results of Ken-Betwa hyperlink project is anticipated to show way for equivalent river interlinking projects and guarantee that scarcity of water does not grow to be an inhibitor for improvement in the nation, the statement added.