The Government of India (GoI) has constituted a Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority (KBLPA) and a 20-member national steering committee for interlinking the two rivers.
National Steering Committee
- The national steering committee will be chaired by jal shakti ministry secretary and will have on board secretaries of ministries of environment, power and tribal affairs and the Department of Expenditure secretary.
- Additional chief secretaries of UP and MP governments, besides Central Water Commission chairman and heads of National Tiger Conservation Authority and National Waterway Development Authority and officials from state wildlife departments will be in the panel.
- The steering committee would resolve any operational issue at the implementation stage. However, in case of a dispute with the committee, it would be referred to a high-level committee headed by the Jal Shakti minister and concerned ministers of both states.
Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority (KBLPA)
- KBLPA itself has been constituted as a vertical of National Water Development Agency under the Jal Shakti Mantralay.
- All central funds for the project will be routed through KBLPA, which will have a single treasury account.
About Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP)
- The Union Cabinet had in December 2022 approved the funding and implementation of Ken-Betwa inter-linking (KBLP) of rivers project with a total cost of Rs 44,605 crore. The project will be completed in eight years.
- Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced Rs 44,605 crore for KBLP in the 2022 budget.
- KBLP is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers.
- It envisages transferring water from the Ken river to the Betwa river, both tributaries of the Yamuna. The Ken-Betwa Link Canal will be 221 km long, including a 2-km long tunnel.
- Phase-I will involve one of the components — Daudhan Dam complex and its subsidiary units such as Low Level Tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa Link Canal and power houses.
- According to the National Water Development Agency, the reservoir of Daudhan dam will involve “a submergence of 9000 ha area, out of which 5803 ha comes under Panna Tiger Reserve. The later includes 4141 ha of forest area which is about 7.6% of the total Panna Tiger Reserve area.
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