After bout of deliberations, Ken-Betwa link gets nod for forest clearance

After a round of deliberations on easing certain riders and modifying conditions over the course of two recent meetings, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of Environment Ministry has finally recommended the Ken-Betwa river linking project for forest clearance. The proposal will now be forwarded to the new Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan for approval even as it is being scrutinised by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court.

The proposal has already received nod for environmental clearance. The National Board for Wildlife has accorded it wildlife clearance as wel. The controversial project proposes to transfer water from the Ken river basin in Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), Madhya Pradesh, to Betwa river basin in Uttar Pradesh, for irrigation. The project will submerge 6,017 hectare of pristine forest, much of it in PTR. It will have large scale impact on wildlife there.

In its last meeting on May 16, the FAC gave a final recommendation for the project after settling pending issues pertaining to hydrology, conservation of vultures, gharials, and relocation of villages from PTR. "After careful consideration of additional facts placed before it by the expert committee...the FAC recommends the proposal...as per specific recommendations," stated the minutes of the May 16 FAC meeting.

The FAC had formed a sub-committee of seven members in its previous meeting in April, and based its final approval after scrutinising the sub-committee's report.

According to the minutes of the meeting, as reviewed by DNA, the FAC agreed to not persist with the demand to reduce height of the project dam by 10 metres. It also asked the National Water Development Agency, the project proponent, to identify non-forest area measuring about 4,000 hectare adjoining PTR from revenue and private land and add it to PTR as compensation.

Further, the FAC has asked the Bombay Natural History Society to prepare an action plan for conservation of vultures, and asked the Wildlife Institute of India to prepare a species recovery programme for conservation of gharials.