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).
