PM Modi to lay foundation of Ken-Betwa river linking project in MP on Dec 25
The project is expected to benefit 4.4 million people in 10 districts of Madhya Pradesh and 2.1 million in 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh, which jointly form the water scarce Bundelkhand region
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday lay the foundation stone of Ken-Betwa river linking project at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh on the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee -- more than 23 years after the project was first conceptualised.
The project is expected to benefit 4.4 million people in 10 districts of Madhya Pradesh and 2.1 million in 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh, which jointly form the water-scarce Bundelkhand region. It will also provide irrigation to about a million hectares of farm land.
A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on March 22, 2021 by the chief ministers of MP, UP and Union Jal Shakti minister in the presence of PM Modi for the implementation of the project.
The project, once completed in an estimated five years, will generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar energy, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav said on Tuesday. “Prime Minister Modi is coming to Khajuraho in Chhatarpur district on December 25 to lay the foundation of this project which will change the image and destiny of Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh,” he added.
The project, which picked up steam after Modi took over as Prime Minister in 2014, is the largest irrigation project in the country involving an underground pressurised pipe irrigation system. Under the project, a 77-metre high and 2.13 kilometres long Daudhan dam and two tunnels (upper level 1.9 km and lower level 1.1 km) will be constructed on the Ken river in the Panna Tiger Reserve.
The surplus Ken water will be transferred to the Betwa river through the 221km-long link canal from Daudhan dam, providing irrigation and drinking water facilities in both the states, Yadav said.
While the project will provide irrigation and drinking water to millions in Bundelkhand, it will cause submergence of around 40% of the Panna Tiger Reserve and other forest areas in Madhya Pradesh.
Yadav said the Daudhan reservoir will provide drinking water to wild animals in the Panna Tiger Reserve throughout the year and will improve the forest ecosystem..
