The Ken Betwa Link

The Ken river

The Betwa river

1. The Ken- Betwa link is the first link in the proposed $200 billion River linking project.

2. The Mou was signed between the Union Government, the Madhya Pradesh Government
    and the Uttar Pradesh Government on 25th August 2005, immediately after the visit of the   
    World Bank President.

3. The World Bank has given $388.09 million for investment in irrigation in the Ken – Betwa    
    and the Chambal-Sindh and Tons-Banas. Commercialisation of the irrigation sector, private   
    sector partnership, cost recovery, increase in tariffs, are all aspects of World Bank’s 
    coditionalities. 75% of the cost of the project will be recovered from the farmers in form of  
    irrigation cess, betterment levy, etc. Thus Ken – Betwa link in effect is ‘privatisation project’.

4. The Ken – Betwa link aims to transfer 1020 million cubic metres of water from the Ken river
to Betwa through a 231.45 Km long canal. However, the Ken has only 342 million cubic metre “surplus” after taking existing irrigation and drinking water demands into account. The M.P. government had earlier in its comments on the feasibility report stated “ The NWDA has proposed 1020 MCM water transfer from the Ken to Betwa basin, by considering gross availability, in basin and down stream use as 6188MCM, 3387 MCM, 2225 MCM at Daudhan respectively. Net balance quantity of water available if properly worked out is 342 MCM, where as NWDA has estimated 1020 MCM, which is not correct.” (RFSTE report on Ken-Betwa link, 2003). Thus the project rests on paper figures, and not on authentic hydrological facts. Therefore, either the project will divert from the existing uses in the Ken basin, or it will not have enough water to transfer to the Betwa and will be another white elephant.

5. The 1020 MCM water will be diverted by impounding it in the 90 sq. Km Daudhan dam
which will submerge 50 sq. Km in the core of the Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Out of the total submergence area of 8650 ha, 6400 is forest area, 15 villages will also be displaced. The project violates the Wild Life Protection Act (1972). The Ken Ghariyal Sanctuary will also be threatened. Even though the dam will submerge the best tiger habitat along the Ken river, the feasibility report summarily states, “the impact of the submergence on the wild life of the park will be nil” since “ wildlife has got its own natural characteristics of moving”. This statement is being made at a time when the Prime Minister has had to set up a Tiger Task Force to address the threat to tigers because of rapid disappearance of there habitat. Daudhan dam construction site is at merely 31 Km away from Khajuraho. The dam construction will destroy the ecological and cultural heritage of the region and threaten the tourist industry which has grown around the Temple Town.
The Feasibility report causally states, “The reservoir area will not submerge any important or historical monuments, hence no detailed archeological survey was conducted.” However, the construction and the link canal will have major impact on archeologically rich sites of Bundelkhand.

6. The 4 dams on the upper Betwa – Barari, Richhan, Neemkheda and Kesari are upstream of the
Parichha dam where the Ken water will be dropped in the Betwa. These projects were planned earlier but lack of water could not allow their completion. The water diverted to dams upstream of Parichha will meet the water requirements downstream through ‘substitution’. Since the Ken is anyway deficit in water, there is every chance that there will not be enough water if the 4 proposed dams on the Betwa. The project will in any case not transfer any water during the lean season i.e. from March to June.

7. The 231.45 Km long link canal will give irrigation to only 2.36% land of the districts through
which it will pass. The canal, cutting across the drainage system of the Ken – Betwa basin will block recharge of the lakes and tanks and groundwater north of the canal, while creating water logging south of the canal. The feasibility report admits that this will lead to increase in malaria since the region of the dam and canal is well known for endemic malaria. The project will increase mosquito genic conditions.

8. The project will displace thousands of people for the construction of 5 dams. According to the
Government the dam in Daudhan will submerge 100 sq. Km land of which 6,400 ha is forest land and 2171 ha is agricultural land. Around 8550 people will be displaced from 10 villages. Our surveys show that the land area that the tribals and farmers will loose is underestimated, as is the cost of compensation. Once the fertile land of Ken is submerged and construction starts, tribals and peasants living at Daudhan will loose 17419.75 ha, not 2171 ha as calculated in the feasibility report. Further, the report does not even mention the submergence and displacement by the 4 dams on upper Betwa. Infact there is no mention of the details of the dams on the Betwa.
        Further, while the compensation has been calculated at Rs. 35,000 per ha, land in Bundelkhand is currently Rs. 3,50,000 per ha. The government has calculated the cost for agricultural land to be only Rs. 35,000/ha for 2171 ha, i.e. a total of Rs. 7,59,85,000 or Rs. 75 million. If the full land which the villagers will loose is taken into account and the market value of the land is taken also then the real cost should be Rs. 3,50,000/ha x 17419.75 ha = Rs 6,09,69,12,500 or Rs 6 billion.
        The project plans to finalize compensations only in the eighth year of the project by which time the value of the land will be Rs. 35,00,000/ha. So, the cost then would be Rs 60 billion. And this does not include the costs of displacement for the 4 dams on Betwa. Assume they would have similar costs, the displacement cost alone are Rs 126 billion.
        The costs of the project which are assumed to be Rs. 198874 million are in reality much more if the costs of displacement are internalized. the cost benefit ratio is negative, especially from the people’s perspective. Tribals and farmers will loose their land and will not get a compensation first. They will have to pay Rs. 218.2 million for betterment levy, Rs. 99.371 million for irrigation cess and as well as irrigation water rates. For water privateers it is a revenue for farmers it’s a cost. From the social and economic perspective of the farmers, the Ken – Betwa link has a negative cost benefit ratio.

9. Corporatisation of Agriculture: the project report promotes a shift from low external input
agriculture to water intensive chemical intensive farming of cash crops such as soya, sugarcane and vegetable. This will increase farmers costs, create debt, and spread the suicides which are being witnessed in regions where farmers have become dependent on purchased seeds and agrochemicals.

10. The Sustainable Alternative for Bundelkhand: Water Conservation and Biodiversity based
Farming. Bundelkhand has a rich heritage of water conservation systems which still serve the drinking water and irrigation needs of the people. These alternatives have been totally ignored in the Ken-Betwa link project. In the feasibility report (pg-69) the project mentions 15 tanks and lakes under the heading “ Existing irrigation facilities in the enroute command”. These provide 5331 ha of irrigation. Our initial surveys have identified 117 tanks and lakes, which would provide 50,000 ha of irrigation. And considering the fact that Tikamgarh district itself has more than 1000 tanks/lakes, they will irrigate 3,55,400 ha themselves. After all the description of ecosystems, culture, societies and local economies and after spending Rs 19.88 billion the Ken – Betwa link will only provide 47,000 ha of irrigation. A more sustainable approach will be to rejuvenate the indigenous lakes and tanks built by the Bundelas and Chandelas and create new water harvesting structures by employing local people through the employment guaranty scheme.
Biodiverse, organic Bundelkhand is the Alternative to chemical and water intensive monocultures of soya, sugarcane and vegetables. Bundelkhand is one of the regions least contaminated with agrochemicals. This needs to be turned into an advantage to promote Bundelkhand as an organic zone growing high value pulses, oilseeds and unique wheat varieties.

You can contact us for the full report.