River-linking projects: India
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Ken-Betwa River linking project
From: Vishwa Mohan, January 27, 2018: The Times of India
See graphics:
1. Ken-Betwa interlinking project
2. The proposed Ken-Betwa river-link, as in 2018
The Times of India, May 15 2016
Jayashree Nandi
The Ken-Betwa River linking project, which promises to resolve Bundelkhand's water crisis, will not only submerge a considerable area under “critical tiger habitat“ inside the Panna Tiger Reserve, but also submerge a part of vulture habitat and make it nearly impossible for the critically endangered gharials to make a comeback in Ken.
It will also impact a large variety of threatened fauna like the grey-headed fish eagles and muggers, according to experts. The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) which recently considered the wildlife clearance for the project, has now suggested a number of measures to mitigate the damage to biodiversity the project may cause.Sources in the NBWL said their clearance to the project is subject to safeguards.“They will have to add an additional area to compensate for the tiger habitat that will submerge. As far as gharials are concerned, we have said the ecological flow in the sanctuary will also have to be maintained and for vultures, the only way to save them is to ensure their area doesn't submerge,“ a member told TOI. The project promises to link Ken river in Madhya Pradesh with Uttar Pradesh's Betwa to irrigate about six lakh hectares.
Scientists, however, say the impact of Ken-Betwa linking may be too complex and significant to be reversed with such mitigation plans. Deepak Apte, director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), said the inter-linking can have a detrimental impact on a variety of species. “We don't know how non-native fish species will respond to the linking; they may not be able to adapt. There are very important riverine ground nesting birds and other fauna that will be affected by sedimentation and flow changes.Many consequences can be irreversible to natural pristine river systems,“ he added, “I would say the government should contemplate on the project with the best science available.“ Apte said vultures need tall trees and since they are nearly extinct, it is best to avoid any submergence of their habitat.
Many also said the safeguards suggested by the NBWL highlight how critical the area is. Former JNU professor Brij Gopal said the project involves constructing a barrage near the gharial sanctuary area, which will result in the area becoming dry and loss of all aquatic fauna in the area. Tarun Nair of the Gharial Conservation Alliance, who has been working in the area, said the place itself may not be particularly important for gharials because there is extensive human disturbance on Ken already . “But the project will definitely impact other important fauna, including marsh crocodiles and mahseer, and the KenBetwa linking will surely ruin any little chance the Gharial has there,“ he added.
Adding more area to the Panna Tiger Reserve may not help tigers because the linking will also impact a critical tiger corridor. “The only connectivity Panna has with other tiger populations is through corridors in the south-west. The 90-sqkm submergence area, which is almost entirely within the present tiger reserve, will completely block the corridor and create an island for Panna's tiger population. The suggestion of adding areas from the existing reserve buffer in the north and making them core will have no impact on the viability of the Panna population,“ said Raghu Chundawat, wildlife biologist.
Permission from Central Empowered Committee (CEC): SC
The ambitious project requires diversion of 5,258 hectares of forest land, including 4,141 hectares of the Panna reserve, and was cleared by the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) in August 2016.
THE RS 10,000-crore Ken-Betwa river-linking project has got the go-ahead for environment clearance. The nod comes even as the project is being examined by the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for adequacy of mitigative measures against its adverse impact on the Panna tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
The ambitious project requires diversion of 5,258 hectares of forest land, including 4,141 hectares of the Panna reserve, and was cleared by the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) last August. On December 30, the Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for river valley and hydel projects recommended the project for environment clearance.
The CEC, meanwhile, had informed the Ministry in a letter on December 2 that it “would like to examine this (Ken-Betwa) proposal from the point of adequacy of mitigative measures against the adverse impacts of the project on the ecological integrity of Panna Tiger Reserve and particularly the riverine eco-system”. The Ministry responded to the CEC’s request to make available relevant papers and reports related to the project only last week, after the project was cleared by the EAC. The CEC can approach the Supreme Court, if it feels aggrieved by a decision of the the NBWL panel.
The minutes of the December 30 EAC meeting note that the “consensus” at an internal meeting of the ministry on November 30 was to delink the landscape management plan (LMP) for the project-affected tiger habitat from the perspective of environmental clearance. Last year, the EAC had called for the LMP and decided to reconsider the project only after obtaining a second opinion from an external expert. Soon after the Ken-Betwa project was recommended for wildlife clearance, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti had said that she was confident about an early environmental clearance. Last month, she claimed that “the last hurdle” was cleared and the project would be launched as soon as the funding pattern was finalised.
Narmada- Kshipra link
Too expensive to run + polluted by Kanh river
River-linking fails to bring joy to Ujjain , Sep 25 2017: The Times of India
It was touted as the first in terlinking project in India, one that would prove that connecting rivers wasn't a Venetian dream, after all.
A Rs 432-crore scheme to pump water from the Narmada to the Kshipra via a pipe had triggered excitement across the country . It did work. Water did flow from the Narmada to cleanse the Kshipra just in time for lakhs of sadhus and devotees to take a holy dip during the Simhastha festival last year.
And then the dream ended.The Kshipra continues to struggle to be polluted and poisoned by Kanh river from neighbouring Indore. The pumps that fed it rejuvenating water from Narmada are largely quiet. It's just too expensive to run them. Rajendra Vashishtha, leader of the opposition in Ujjain Municipal Corporation, said, “The project is too expensive, it needs four powerful pumps and is actually meant for industrial use.“
Last summer, water was piped from this dirty river every alternate day for the 6 lakh residents of Ujjain.
Chief engineer of Narmada Valley Development Corporation M S Ajnare, however, denied the pumps are idle. “We pump water as and when it is required for the people of Dewas and Ujjain. A plan to provide water to the industrial area of Pithampur from the project is underway ,“ he said.
Polluted extensively by river Kahn, Kshipra doesn't flow except in monsoon and has lost its perennial flow long ago.
In 2011, it was a discourse by Swami Awdheshanand, spiritual guru of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, that led to the revival plan. The guru urged Chouhan to clean up the Kshipra ahead of the Simhastha fair in Ujjain A year later, in November 2012, the project to lift Narmada water from a distance of 49km started.
