An agreement to implement the Ken-Betwa river link project was signed on March 22 by the Jal Shakti Ministry and governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The agreement was signed by Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhwat, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 

Ken River

• The Ken River is one of the major rivers of the Bundelkhand region of central India, and flows through two states — Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

• The river originates near Ahirgawan village in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh and joins the Yamuna River near Chilla village in Uttar Pradesh.

• It forms the state boundary between Chhatarpur district (Madhya Pradesh) and Banda district (Uttar Pradesh). 

• The river has a total length of 427 km, out of which 292 km lies in Madhya Pradesh, 84 km in Uttar Pradesh, and 51 km forms the common boundary.

• The longest tributary of Ken is Sonar, which is 227 km in length and lies wholly in Madhya Pradesh.

Betwa River

• Betwa or Betravati is a tributary of the Yamuna. Also known as the Vetravati, the Betwa rises in the Vindhya Range just north of Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh and flows north-east through Madhya Pradesh and Orchha to Uttar Pradesh. 

• It traverses a long distance of 654 km from its source up to its confluence with river Yamuna near Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh.

• The river has 14 principal tributaries out of which 11 are completely in Madhya Pradesh and three lie partly in Madhya Pradesh and partly in Uttar Pradesh. The Halali and Dhasan Rivers are the important tributaries of the Betwa River.

Ken- Betwa Link Project

• Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) was declared as a National Project in 2009. 

• It is the first project of the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for interlinking of rivers.

• The Ken-Betwa Link Project envisages diversion of surplus waters of Ken basin to water deficit Betwa basin. To firm up the proposal further, Survey & Investigation works were carried out for preparation of Feasibility Report of Ken-Betwa link for diverting surplus waters of Ken to water short areas of Betwa basin. 

• The proposal consisted of a dam across the Ken river upstream of the existing Gangau Weir and a link canal for transferring the surplus waters from Ken river to Betwa river. 

Highlights of the final agreement

• The project involves transfer of water from the Ken to the Betwa river through the construction of Daudhan Dam and a canal linking the two rivers, the Lower Orr project, Kotha Barrage and Bina Complex Multipurpose Project. 

• It will provide annual irrigation of 10.62 lakh hectares, drinking water supply to about 62 lakh people and also generate 103 MW of hydropower.

• The project agreement heralds the beginning of inter-state cooperation to carry water from areas that have surplus water to drought prone and water deficit areas through the interlinking of rivers.

• According to the Centre, the project will be of immense benefit to the water starved region of Bundelkhand, especially to the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen in Madhya Pradesh and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh. 

• It also will pave the way for more interlinking of river projects to ensure that scarcity of water does not become an inhibitor for development in the country.

Interlinking of rivers

Interlinking of River (ILR) programme is of national importance and has been taken up on high Priority. 

Under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) prepared by the ministry of jal shakti, National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has identified 14 links under Himalayan Rivers Component and 16 links under Peninsular Rivers Component for inter basin transfer of water based on field surveys and investigation and detailed studies. Out of these, Feasibility Reports of 14 links under Peninsular Component and 2 links (Indian portion) under Himalayan Component have been prepared. Draft Feasibility Reports of 7 link projects (Indian portion) of Himalayan Component have also been completed.

Other main river linking projects planned are:

• Damanganga-Pinjal Link Project

• Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Project

• Godavari-Cauvery Link Project

• Mahanadi–Godavari Link Project

• Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga Link Project.

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