Budget 2022 : River Interlinking a pathway to water security or ecological disaster? скачать в хорошем качестве

Budget 2022 : River Interlinking a pathway to water security or ecological disaster?

According to this statement by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2022-23 budget, the Ken-Betwa linking project at an estimated cost of Rs. 44,605 crore will be taken up. According to the Centre, this will provide irrigation benefits to 9 lakh hectare farm land, drinking water to 62 lakh people, 103 MW hydropower and 27 MW solar power generation. But what is river-linking? It is a system of literally linking a river with ‘surplus’ water to a water-deficit one using a network of canals and reservoirs. A project was proposed way back in 1972 by irrigation engineer K.L Rao which would divert flood waters of the Ganga to Cauvery, which was more than 2000km away.The Ken-Betwa project aims to transfer surplus water from the Ken river in Madhya Pradesh to Betwa in Uttar Pradesh to provide relief to the drought-prone Bundelkhand region. Both the rivers are tributaries of the larger Yamuna river. It is argued that the budget allocated for this project is an appeasement preceding the UP elections. Not only this project, but others have been opposed by environmentalists for a long time because of its effects on the local ecology and the water bodies themselves. According to a study published in Current Science in December 2021, the Ken-Betwa project will lead to the submergence of a major area of the Panna Tiger Reserve, not only endangering the tigers but also their prey such as the Chital and Sambar. The project will incur a loss of about 58 kms of the tiger habitat within the reserve and an indirect loss of 105km because of loss of habitat and connectivity due to submergence. Additionally, it will also lead to a loss of two million trees. The study mentions that the submerged area has rich tree density and biodiversity. The reserve was included in a global network of biosphere reserves by UNESCO in 2020 along with being touted as a critical tiger habitat. In MP, the districts covered by the 230km long canal are Tikamgarh, Panna and Chhatarpur along with Jhansi, Banda, Lalitpur and Mahoba districts of UP. River interlinking is not the only way to achieve water security. There have been examples within Bundelkhand like Jakhni village who have achieved water self-sufficiency through efforts like the construction of farm ponds, restoration of water bodies, collection and utilization of greywater, raising of farm bunds and intensive plantation of trees since 2014.