Context

About four decades after conceptualisation, India’s first river interlinking project, connecting Ken river in Madhya Pradesh with Betwa in Uttar Pradesh, is finally set to get off the drawing board. However, some issues still remain unaddressed.

About

What is the Ken Betwa Link Project?

• It is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers.
• Under this project, water from the Ken river will be transferred to the Betwa river. Both these rivers are tributaries of river Yamuna.
• The Ken-Betwa Link Project has two phases.
• Phase-I, one of the components — Daudhan dam complex and its appurtenances like Low Level Tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa link canal and Power houses — will be completed.
• Phase-II, three components — Lower Orr dam, Bina complex project and Kotha barrage — will be constructed.
• The Project lies in Bundelkhand, a drought-prone region, which spreads across 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Bundelkhand region Bundelkhand region is surrounded a number of rivers of the Ganga-Yamuna river basin. The Yamuna river is to the North of Bundelkhand  Ken river is in the east 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.

What issues still remain?

Significance of the project

• The project is expected to provide-
• annual irrigation of 10.62 lakh hectares
• drinking water supply to about 62 lakh people
• generate 103 MW of hydropower

Other river-linking projects in India Periyar Project Parambikulam Aliyar Kurnool Cudappah Canal Telugu Ganga Project Ravi-Beas-Sutlej