Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ken-Betwa river link project in December 2024. The project aims to divert surplus water from the Ken river to Betwa and help address various water-related issues in the region.
Rivers are valuable natural resources for drinking water, contribute to rich biodiversity, provide sediment to flat plains, add ground water to aquifers, interconnect the ecological and hydrological systems, and are enablers of economic development.
Keeping these objectives in view, the ‘Linking Rivers Schemes’ were conceived in India in 1980 under the National Perspective Water Development Plan. This presumed that there are many rivers with surplus water and out of usable surface water resources, a certain percentage of excess water could be utilised for various purposes.
These schemes envisaged inter-basin water transfer comprising 30 water linked projects and about 3,000 storages, connecting 37 Himalayan and peninsular rivers. There are various upsides to this, such as creating 35 gigawatts of hydropower, irrigating 35 mha of land and some related navigation and fishery benefits. Other potential benefits include domestic and industrial water supply, mitigation and drought-control, flow management, salinity control and pollution control. However, the negative impacts for such schemes are biodiversity loss, mass displacement and submersion of forests.
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Ken river has surplus water of about 1,074 cubic meters, which is proposed to be transferred to Betwa river through a 218-km long main canal. This scheme aims to alleviate drought-like conditions in Bundelkhand by ensuring year round irrigation. It ensures enhanced agriculture for about 10.62 lakh hectares (ha) of farm land, thus improving crop yields and farming income. The scheme will also provide additional drinking water supply to about 62 lakh people in MP and UP, thus improving public health. The project also proposed to generate about 103 megawatts of hydropower and 27 megawatts of solar power, thus boosting renewable energy capacity in rural areas, and ensuring Bundelkhand’s overall development.
The Ken-Betwa project will generate employment both, at the time of construction and after it. The indirect employment generation in the agricultural sector is estimated to be over 225 lakh man days in the command area of the project.
In project Tiger Region, the wild animals will have access to improved water availability. The project, with over 5.765 lakh ha of command area, will create eco-friendly conditions for increasing cattle population. The riparian vegetation on the project area will provide shelter and cover for aquatic life. The water bodies in the form of a reservoir at Daudhan village will become a habitat for agri-fauna in the long run.
The Ken river rises near Ahirgawan in MP, flowing through Bundelkhand and joining Yamuna near Chilla village in UP. The Betwa river originates in the Vindhya range and flows through Bundelkhand, thereafter meeting Yamuna in Hamirpur in UP. Both rivers traverse hilly and plateau regions of Bundelkhand, which often faced drought-like conditions.
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This river linking scheme, however, will submerge eco friendly areas – 5,258 ha of forest land and 4,141 ha of the Panna Tiger Reserve. The competent authorities have addressed these issues before giving clearance for this scheme
The problem with river linking projects
In general, any river linking scheme may face various issues. First, resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) is a big issue in river linking projects. River linking schemes often require lands and construction of storage which results in submergence of habitable areas and irrigated lands. There is a need to have an innovative R&R package for people affected by the project so that they are in favour of the river linking schemes.
Second, out of India’s 30 river linking projects, some have international dimensions. For example, six Himalayan link projects fall in Nepal and Bhutan. There is a need for appropriate hydro-diplomacy among nations to reach a consensus and agreement. For example, the Sankesh project (Manes-Sankesh, Teesta-Ganga link) requires consensus among nations such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India.
Third, river linking projects call for changes of existing institutional set up. The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) is the only agency at the central level entrusted with river-linking schemes. There is a need to adopt a mission mode approach, and a national water mission on river linking may be constituted for giving a focused approach to the pending river linking schemes in India.
Fourth, it is often argued that in any river, the concept “water lost to sea” does not consider the ecological dimension of the issue. It is also argued that policies deliberately ignore viewing rivers as a part of drainage basins with ecological niches. There is a need to address these issues which involve addressing socio-economic concerns. Adequate consultation is needed with various stakeholders for reaching a consensus for addressing the negative aspects of the river linking schemes in India.
The concept of river linking is not new in India. In 1882, the Kurnool-Culappa canal was completed for transferring 2.68 billion cubic meters (bcm) of water per year. There are at least 10 such projects of inter-basin water transfers that have been conceived in India, as out of the usable surface water resources of 690 bcm, only 65% of surface water is currently utilised and the rest often goes to the sea. The surplus water should be utilised to address the country’s many water related issues while keeping environmental and ecological concerns in mind.
S.K. Sarkar is a distinguished fellow and senior director, Natural Resources and Climate, TERI, New Delhi and a former secretary, Ministry of Water Resources.