Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday introduced an allocation of Rs 1,400 crore in Union Budget 2022-23 for the implementation of the Ken-Betwa river-linking challenge in Bundelkhand, a drought-prone area spreading throughout 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
“The implementation of the Ken-Betwa Link Project at an estimated cost of Rs 44,605 crore will be taken up. This is aimed at providing irrigation benefits to 9 lakh hectares of land, drinking water supply to 62 lakh people, 103 MW of hydro (power), 27 MW of solar power. Allocations of Rs 4,300 crore in the RE 2021-22 and Rs 1,400 crore in 2022-23 have been made for this project,” Sitharaman stated, throughout her price range speech in Lok Sabha.
The announcement comes at a time when seven districts of Uttar Pradesh, which falls below the Bundelkhand area, are scheduled to solid votes within the third, fourth and fifth phases of the Legislative Assembly elections.
On March 22, 2021, a memorandum of settlement was signed between the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP).
The Union authorities permitted the KBLP at an estimated price of Rs 44,605 crore in December final yr. The challenge is predicted to be accomplished in eight years.
The finance minister additionally introduced that draft detailed challenge reviews (DPRs) for 5 different riverlink tasks — Damanganga-Pinjal, Tapi-Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Kaveri — have been finalised.
Once a consensus is reached among the many beneficiary states, the Centre will present help for his or her implementation, she stated.
The KBLP is the primary below the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the interlinking of rivers, which was ready in 1980. It is without doubt one of the 16 tasks below the peninsular part. Besides, 14 hyperlinks are proposed below the Himalayan rivers improvement plan.
The KBLP envisages transferring water from the Ken river to the Betwa river, each tributaries of the Yamuna. The Ken-Betwa Link Canal can be 221 km lengthy, together with a 2-km lengthy tunnel.
The challenge has two phases, with 4 principal elements. Phase-I’ll contain one of many elements — Daudhan Dam advanced and its subsidiary models corresponding to Low Level tunnel, High Level Tunnel, Ken-Betwa Link Canal and energy homes.
Phase-II will contain three elements — Lower Orr Dam, Bina Complex Project and Kotha Barrage.