Panna Tiger reserve threatened by Ken-Betwa project

Ignoring petitions pending before the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court besides growing opposition to the Ken-Betwa river-linking project, the Centre has given its nod to the project costing Rs 35,000 Crore at 2017-18 prices. At today’s valuation the project would cost Rs 45,000 Crore and by the time it is completed, the cost is certainly going to escalate further.

Under this project, water from the Ken river will be transferred to the Betwa river. Both these rivers are tributaries of river Yamuna. A 73.8-meter-high dam proposed on Ken at Daudhan in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhattarpur district. Both the rivers are rain-fed and are tributaries of the Yamuna. The project is estimated to take eight years to complete.

According to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, the project is expected to provide annual irrigation of 10.62 lakh hectares, drinking water supply to about 62 lakh people and also generate 103 MW of hydropower.

According to the Comprehensive Detailed Project Report, the cost of Ken-Betwa Link Project is estimated at Rs 35,111.24 crore at 2017-18 prices.

According to a written reply given by Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria, out of the 6,017 ha of forest area coming under submergence of Daudhan dam of Ken Betwa Link Project, 4,206 ha of area lies within the core tiger habitat of Panna Tiger Reserve.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar, asking him not to implement the existing Ken-Betwa river linking project, the first of its kind programme in India.

In her letter dated April 2, Gandhi argued that over the past decade, the Panna tiger reserve has been revived with great difficulties and now the park is considered an outstanding example of translocation and successful breeding.

“It is now threatened by the river linking project and the state government’s open estimate is that around 40% of the area of the tiger reserve will be irretrievably damaged,” Gandhi wrote, pointing that around 18 lakh trees would be removed from the submergence area and “there would be a serious question over the basic issue of water availability itself for the proposed transfer.”

“I request you to ensure that this project in its present shape and form does not get implemented. Many conservationists in Madhya Pradesh and indeed from across the country have called for the abandonment of the project,” she wrote.

Former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh also tweeted that he had suggested alternatives to the government 10 years ago but his suggestions were not heeded. A member of the National Tiger Conservation Authority Prerna Singh Bindra also believes that the project would spell doom for the Reserve.

If the Centre, which has to finance 90% of the cost, goes ahead with the project—despite financial constraints and the present pandemic—it will be the first of the 30 river inter-linking schemes proposed. The project is expected to help irrigate land, provide drinking water to over 1.3 million people and generate hydel power, states the project report.

However, resistance is growing among people in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh, where people say they have been suffering from high calcium content of water secured through tubewells, ponds and wells. Water from the river Ken, they say, should be supplied to them as drinking water to check the chronic stomach ailments from which the entire population have suffered since long.