NEW DELHI, May 10 -- The memorandum of understanding for the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) signed in March 2021 among the Union Jal Sakti Ministry, the Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh through video conference in the virtual presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been done without resolving serious environmental, legal and economic objections to the project.
The primary objective of the mega project, which according to 2017-18 estimates is expected to cost Rs. 38,000 crores, is to take the 'surplus' water in the Ken river to Betwa. To start with, the KBLP is based on a faulty premise that Ken, the smaller of the two rivers, has surplus water. The hydrological aspects of the Ken-Betwa link has never been scientifically ...