Ken-Betwa river link project

  • IASbaba
  • January 26, 2023
  • 0
Environment & Ecology, Geography
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Context: Recently, Steering Committee of the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) held its third meeting in New Delhi.

About the project:

  • The link will be in the form of a canal that will be fed by the new Daudhan Dam on the Ken, to be built within the Panna Tiger Reserve.
  • The dam will generate 103MW of hydroelectric power.
  • 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 powerhouses will be completed.
  • Construction of the Lower Orr Dam, Bina Complex Project, and Kotha Barrage will be progressed in phase II of the project.

Significance of the Project:

  • With this project, the government aims to benefit the water-starved Bundelkhand region, spread to several other districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
  • The project is expected to boost socio-economic prosperity in the backward region of Bundelkhand, on account of increased agricultural activities and employment.

Concern about the project:

  • May incur an estimated loss of 58.03 square kilometres (10.07 per cent) of critical tiger habitat (CTH) in the reserve.
  • An indirect loss of 105.23 sq km of CTH because of habitat fragmentation and loss of connectivity due to submergence.
  • High reservoir-dam on the Ken River in the Panna National Park will impact ecology of important tiger reserve and its habitat.
  • It has high chances of getting drowned if project gets completed.
  • On the downstream of Panna national park lies the Ken Gharial Sanctuary which will severely impact critically endangered Gangetic gharial (Gavialis gangeticus).
  • Standing Committee of the NBWL has not considered the impact of the project on the gharial sanctuary.
  • Project has not received full forest clearance and its environment approval is pending before the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Source:  The Hindu

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) Gandikota canyon of South India was created by which one of the following rivers ? (2022)

  1. Cauvery
  2. Manjira
  3. Pennar
  4. Tungabhadra

Q.2) Consider the following pairs:

Reservoirs        :                States

  1. Ghataprabha :     Telangana
  2. Gandhi Sagar :     Madhya Pradesh
  3. Indira Sagar :     Andhra Pradesh
  4. Maithon :             Chhattisgarh

How many pairs given above are not correctly matched? (2022)

  1. Only one pair only
  2. Only two pairs only
  3. Only three pairs
  4. All four pairs

 

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