Atul Kanak
In this time’s Union Budget, it has been announced to give one thousand four hundred crore rupees for the Ken-Betwa joint project. The Ken-Betwa project is most important under the policy designed to solve the problem of water crisis in various parts of the country by connecting rivers. In March last year, the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti had signed an agreement with the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh for this project. About forty four thousand crore rupees will be spent on this project.
It is noteworthy that both Ken and Betwa are tributaries of Yamuna. After leaving the Kaimur hills of Madhya Pradesh for a journey of four hundred and twenty seven kilometers, the Ken river joins the Yamuna river near Banda in Uttar Pradesh, while the Betwa river emerges from Raisen in Madhya Pradesh and has a flow area of five hundred and seventy six kilometres. It joins Yamuna river at Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh. Under this project, two hundred and twenty one kilometer long line canal will be built to connect the two rivers, so that the water of Ken river with large amount of water can be transferred to Betwa river.
The Betwa river also has a cultural and historical significance of its own, as cultural cities like Sanchi and Vidisha are situated on its banks. On the other hand, the Ken river is associated with many interesting incidents. There is a mention of a girl named Ken in the Mahabharata. The Ken river is also special because it contains a unique stone of its kind called Shajar, which is sold at high prices in Iran. Experts say that in the whole world this stone is found only in this river. It is hoped that after connecting the Ken and Betwa rivers, the water problem in the Bundelkhand region, which often faces famine every summer, will be solved.
The concept of interlinking of rivers was conceived even before independence in 1858 by a British irrigation engineer named Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton. In 1971-72, the then Irrigation Minister KL Rao suggested the linking of Ganga and Cauvery. But the practical difficulties of this work and the question mark on its usefulness did not allow this thing to progress further. In the nineties, a commission was also formed to study the possibilities of realizing the concept of interlinking of rivers and its impact on the country and society.
On 13 October 2002, the Government of India passed the draft river connectivity scheme in the form of Amrit Kranti, in which more than three dozen rivers were proposed to be connected. The plan also included proposals such as building dams between rivers and reservoirs for water storage. Then on a public interest litigation, the country’s biggest court directed the central government to prepare a plan for interlinking of rivers and ensure its implementation by 2015.
But so far no significant progress has been made in the direction of interlinking of rivers. There are many reasons for this. The disputes over the sharing of river waters between different states have also played no less role in perpetuating this indecision. A report on the topic ‘Interflow Area Water Transfer’ was prepared on the initiative of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
According to this, thirty canals, three thousand reservoirs and hydel power projects with a capacity of thirty four thousand MW were to be prepared. In 2002, the cost of this entire project was estimated to be 1230 million dollars. This cost has certainly increased manifold after so many years. It is not easy for a developing economy like India to bear this much expenditure on a single project.
While presenting the budget of 2022-23, the Union Finance Minister proposed to interlink five rivers along with giving one thousand four hundred crore rupees for the Ken-Betwa project. Of these, three proposed schemes are related to South Indian rivers. It has also been said in the budget proposal that for these projects, the consent of those states will be necessary in the states where a particular river flows. But voices of opposition have started rising in South India from now on.
The Telangana Chief Minister has questioned the propriety of the Centre’s announcement, saying that the distribution of water among the states connected by rivers is done through the decisions of tribunals. In such a situation, the proposal to link the rivers will create new controversies. Voices of opposition to the proposal have also started rising from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
On the other hand, environmentalists say that interlinking of rivers will have an adverse effect on their ecosystem, because each river has its own unique ecosystem and interlinking of rivers also poses a existential threat to the organisms living in the water of a particular river. may be born. People opposing the policy of interlinking of rivers say that the government should focus on connecting people with rivers rather than interlinking rivers, so that people can feel connected with rivers. This will end the process of neglect of rivers and will help in saving them.
Apart from this, new reservoirs should also be constructed to conserve the rain water that falls on the surface of the earth which reaches the sea through rivers. One of the reasons for the water crisis in a large part of the country is that the groundwater level has gone very low. Unless efforts are made to increase the groundwater level in those areas, the crisis in the direction of water availability will not be solved accurately.
It is important that out of about 70 million cubic meters of surface water in the country, only sixty-five percent of the water is used, the rest goes into the sea. It is necessary to use the water going into the sea for human interest. If rivers are interlinked, then it can have some advantages. Transfer of water can be possible in the prescribed manner and relief from drought and floods, irrigable land can be increased by 15 percent, water transport will be encouraged and new tourist centers can also be developed. But after connecting the rivers, the dams built for water management will make the land swampy and it will also reduce the production of food grains.
Perhaps that’s why one environmentalist says that ‘the economic benefits of interlinking rivers should be weighed against the capital losses of natural resources and only then should work on new river interlinking projects’. Interlinking of rivers can be a useful step, but before that experts and policy makers have to take care that there is no harm to the ecosystem of rivers, otherwise it will not take long to create new obstacles in the path of development.
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