Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation of Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) which envisages linking both the tributaries of the Yamuna River with a 221 KM canal (Ken-Betwa Link Canal). The canal will also a have a 2 KM tunnel. The project will prove to be significantly beneficial for farmers that face scarcity of water and subsequent hurdles in irrigation of their agricultural lands in the region comprising people of both Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Along with a canal, the project will also include a dam that would generate 103 MW of hydropower. Besides, it will provide drinking water to almost 62 lakh people and an annual irrigation to 10.62 lakh hectares (8.11 lakh ha in MP and 2.51 lakh ha in UP) of land. In generating clean energy, the project will also have an installed solar power capacity of 27 MW.
The KBLP has two phases. In Phase-I, the Daudhan Dam complex and its subsidiary units such as the Low Level Tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa Link Canal and power houses will be constructed. In Phase-II, there will be three components — Lower Orr Dam, Bina Complex Project and Kotha Barrage.
However, KBLP is just a start and there is a long list of such projects in the pipeline that would transform India’s agricultural landscape by providing extensive river irrigation.
The Central government has been making strides across areas that are of key interest to every stakeholder in the country. Since, the rivers are one of the most crucial and essential parts of any nation that depends heavily on agriculture, the government steps were not only desired but needed.
For those unversed, KBLP is one of the projects under the peninsular component of the National Perspective Plan (NPP) of the Ministry of Irrigation (Now Ministry of Jalshakti). It was prepared in 1980 but faced hurdles because Congress has been a staunch critic of the project. However, after Vajpayee’s government came into power, the project again started getting pace but after 2004, Congress again shelved it.
However, there were some exceptions where the progress on individual projects continued and KBPL was one among them. In 2008, the project was identified as a National Project and was later included as part of the Prime Minister’s package for the development of the drought-prone Bundelkhand region.
But, after the advent of Narendra Modi govt, things started to work out quickly and the projects under NPP are being taken up at faster speed.
Let’s delve into the details of the NPP first. The NPP is divided into two parts, one is the peninsular component, the other is Himalayan River Development Plan.
The Peninsular component has 16 projects while the Himalayan component has 14 projects.
Why was linking of rivers proposed, what are its benefits?
India because of its huge length and wide geographic and climatic diversity does not get uniform rainfall. The monsoons which bring rains to the entire India also get it for a short span of 4 months- June to September.
According to these geo climatic differences, the north and east witness heavy rainfall while west and south get less rains.
And because of this, the southern part of India is prone to droughts. On the contrary, the northern and eastern parts are prone to floods.
So it was thought that through linking the rivers, the scare areas can be drained with excess water. This would not only benefit farmers and common people’s usage but also reduce losses incurred by the nation holistically due to natural calamities.
With these link projects, the majority of Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka among others will get benefits.
The farmers will have sufficient water for irrigation without even worrying about the groundwater. Beside irrigation and drought, flood control, the NPP will also have other benefits. The projects can provide adequate drinking water to those areas which face scarcity.
The hydropower generated through the projects will ensure robust electricity supply and would augment India’s installed green energy capacity. The solar power production, on the other hand, would provide cheaper electricity which would promote water uplifting from rivers.
Better irrigation would strengthen farmers and would ensure food security for all. Among many other benefits, one is to keep the long term sustainable productivity of the river intact.
Simply put, when the water is exhaustively harnessed from a river, the river basin closes which stops the salt export from river to sea. It makes soil saline and unfit for various crops, thereby farmers get out of choices. The link project would drain surplus water into scarce rivers protecting it from anthropogenic influences.
Also, the connected rivers can become a good medium of transportation, freight movement and overall navigation.
The NPP will also enhance India’s reservoir infrastructure which is most necessary in today’s world. As per studies, India stores only 30 days of rain water in total while developed nations store 900 days of water in their reservoirs. This also poses great pressure on groundwater.
This condition can be understood by a phrase, ‘India is not getting out of water, water is getting out of India.’
Are there any cons?
Nothing comes with all benefits and no losses, it’s just which side of the balance is more heavy. As far as NPP is considered, there have been apprehensions but most people press on the effectiveness of the study of the projects. Some of the cons or apprehensions include:
There could be potential environment and ecological impacts. The critics have raised concern that the rivers change their course nearly every 100 years and in case such a thing happens, the project will also lose its relevance.
The construction will cause deforestation on a major chunk of land across India. Besides, the fishing community would get affected and the local people would have to be displaced for reservoirs, which if left unattended, would create a human crisis.
However, most of these issues are those which can be tackled with proper studies. As the government is taking up the projects after pre-feasibility, feasibility and detailed project report. Still, if there are any apprehensions, the government must make efforts to address them because, the NPP is a much-needed effort to help farmers and make our entire country agriculturally rich because ill-effects of such a mass-oriented project would not comprise of only failure but a loss of vision for decades to come.
