Centre keen for river link project on mission mode

The central government on Wednesday asked all stakeholders to take up the Ken-Betwa river link project on a 'mission mode'.

Chairing the 7th meeting of special committee for inter-linking of rivers here, union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanwar Lal Jat urged stakeholders to take up the project 'on mission mode' so that work on the project could start by the beginning of next year.

The minister assured that interests of both Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh would be completely safeguarded while taking up this project.

Sanwar Lal said the MP state wildlife board had given environmental clearance for the project and recommended it to the ministry of environment and forests.

"Phase-I of the project will benefit the districts of Mahoba, Jhansi and Banda in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattarpur, Panna and Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh," he said.

More than 6.30 lakh hectares of land would be irrigated in these districts when the first phase of the project is completed, he said.

The minister said the inter-linking of rivers was supervised by the Supreme Court and hence no one should doubt the Centre's sincerity on this issue.

The meeting was attended by water resources/irrigation ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra along with senior officials from various states, including Telengana, Karnataka and Rajasthan.