Work on Ken-Betwa river linking project delayed

Work on the Centre's ambitious Ken-Betwa river linking project, considered as the first effort to connect rivers in the country, is expected to get underway only by the year end or early next year, a senior official said today.
The work was expected to kick-start early this year, but will be delayed now for want of various clearances, the official said.
"Work on forest, wildlife and environment clearance for the project is under process. The National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) is expected to discuss the wildlife clearance given by Madhya Pradesh at its meeting later this month.
"The permissions and complicated works like shifting locals from the region will eat into some time.Keeping this in mind, we expect the work to begin towards the end of this year or early next year only," the official said without divulging details.

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti had stated last year that work on the project of connecting Ken-Betwa rivers will begin in January-February and preparations for the same have been completed.
The phase-I of the project will irrigate 6.35 lakh hectares of land at an estimated cost of Rs 9393 crore in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.