The much-awaited Rs 44,605 crore Ken Betwa link (KBK) project expected to take off after Union ministerNirmala Sitharaman‘s announcement about it in her Budget speech.
The project will irrigate a large area of Madhya Pradesh andUttar Pradesh, she said.
The project in the drought-prone region ofBundelkhand, spread across 13 districts of Madhya Pradesh and the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh is expected to benefit more than 9 lakh hectare farmland of the backward region. “Implementation ofKen-BetwaLinking project at an estimated cost of Rs 44,605 Crore is to be taken up with Irrigation benefits on nine lakh hectare farmland,” Sitharaman announced. The finance minister said that an allocation of Rs 1,400 crore has been made for the project in 2022-23.
The finance minister also said that the project was expected to provide drinking water supply to about 62 lakh people besides generating 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW solar power. She said that five more river-linking projects were under process and the detailed project reports (DPRs) had been prepared for them.
The KBL approved by the on December 8 is scheduled to be implemented in the next eight years.
The controversial project envisages transferring of water from the Ken river to the Betwa river, both tributaries of the Yamuna, through the construction of Daudhan Dam and a canal linking the two rivers. The Canal will be 221 km long, including a 2-km long tunnel. The construction work will take place insidePannatiger reserve, famous worldover for tiger reintroduction programme in 2009.