UP, MP sign river linking MoU

Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on Thursday signed the memorandum of understanding for linking surplus waters of Ken with the water deficit Betwa. This is for the first time that river basins have been interlinked in the country. The Centre is also a signatory to the MoU.

The project envisages diversion of surplus waters of Ken basin to Betwa basin through the construction of Dandhan dam on Ken river and 231 km long link canal.

This will facilitate construction of four additional medium irrigation projects in the upper Betwa basin where level of irrigation is very low.

Irrigation benefits will also accrue in the enroute command, by way of additional irrigation tabilisation in the downstream of Daudhan dam to a large area.

By this project, irrigation and water supply are proposed in Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Panna, Raisen and Vidisha districts of Madhya Pradesh, and Hamirpur, Banda and Jhansi districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The MoU was signed by chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav and of Madhya Pradesh Babu Lal Gaur, besides Union Minister of Water Resources Priyaranjan Dasmunsi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also present at the signing ceremony.

In a statement later, Dasmunsi said the observations of UP on some of the issues would be addressed at the stage of detailed project report.

The ministry of water resources prepared a National Perspective Plan in 1980 for water resources development in the country.

Based on numerous water balance studies, topo sheet studies of reservoir sites, and link alignments, the NWDA has identified 30 links, 16 under peninsular component and 14 under Himalayan component for the preparation of feasibility reports in line with the proposals of NPP.

The interlinking of rivers programme had obtained momentum in the recent past, as efforts had been made for a comprehensive assessment of this important infrastructure development programme, with a focus on southern rivers as envisaged in the National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA, said Dasmunshi.

The NWDA has so far completed feasibility reports for 14 links under the peninsular component. These link projects are ready for consensus building with the concerned states for starting the next step of preparation of detailed project reports.

The UP government had certain reservations regarding the feasibility report of Ken-Betwa Link Project, as prepared by NWDA. After the completion of the detailed project report, further steps like funding agreements and the execution of the link project will follow.