PM to lay foundation stone for Ken-Betwa River Linking Project on Dec 25

Bhopal, Dec 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the Ken-Betwa river linking project on Wednesday, marking the first initiative under India’s national river interlinking policy. The event will take place at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.

The project, which is expected to cost Rs 44,605 crore, aims to provide drinking water to 44 lakh people in 10 districts of Madhya Pradesh and 21 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh, as announced by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday. Additionally, 7.18 lakh farmer families across 2,000 villages will benefit from the project, which will also generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar energy.

Yadav emphasized that the Ken-Betwa Link Project is a unique collaboration between the central government, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, and it fulfills the vision of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s river linking campaign. The project aims to boost agriculture, provide sufficient drinking and industrial water, and foster economic and social development in the Bundelkhand region, which has long struggled with water scarcity.

The project will feature the construction of a 77-meter-high Daudhan dam and two tunnels on the Ken River within the Panna Tiger Reserve. The dam will store 2,853 million cubic meters of water, which will then be transferred to the Betwa River through a 221-km-long link canal, providing irrigation and drinking water across both states.

The project is set to irrigate 8.11 lakh hectares in 2,000 villages across Madhya Pradesh, including areas in Panna, Damoh, Chhatarpur, and Tikamgarh, benefiting around seven lakh farmers. In Uttar Pradesh, the project will provide irrigation for 59,000 hectares and stabilize existing irrigation in 1.92 lakh hectares, benefiting districts such as Mahoba, Jhansi, and Banda.

In addition to addressing water scarcity, the project will help preserve historical heritage ponds, improve forest ecosystems, provide drinking water to wildlife in the Panna Tiger Reserve, and reduce flood risks in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district.

The initiative is expected to curb migration for employment by improving local living conditions and ending the water crisis in Bundelkhand. The project was officially approved following a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on March 22, 2021, by the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, along with the Union Jal Shakti Minister, in the presence of PM Modi.