The project is based on diverting the Ken river's water to the Betwa river basin, but the project dam would submerge 100 sq.km of forest land, and impact the habitats of tigers, vultures and gharials.
The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) will make a visit to the site of the Ken Betwa river linking project (KBLP) in Madhya Pradesh. The CEC wants to assess the efficacy of mitigation measures National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has recommended while granting the project wildlife clearance. Mitigation measures have been recommended to offset the damage to forest and wildlife in Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR).
During the site visit, the CEC would also see a presentation on the project by the Madhya Pradesh forest department.
The project is based on diversion of Ken river’s water from PTR to Betwa river basin in Uttar Pradesh and the project dam will submerge 100 sq.km of forest in and around PTR. The submergence of the forest will also fragment the tiger habitat besides affecting vultures and gharials.
The CEC is examining a plea that has sought quashing of the wildlife clearance granted for the project on grounds that it is in violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (WPA). On Monday, the CEC had called senior officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and wildlife division of union environment ministry to hear their response on the grounds for clearing the project inside a tiger reserve.
The petitioner’s advocate pointed out to the CEC that the project was in contravention of Section 35(6) of the WPA. The said section under WPA prohibits diversion of water and exploitation of wildlife inside a national park unless the state government and NBWL are satisfied that it is necessary for the betterment of wildlife.
The NTCA and wildlife division said that a site inspection was carried out before NBWL granted clearance and mitigation measures were recommended based on the site inspection report. NTCA and environment ministry officials said that as part of the mitigation measures three sanctuaries would be added to Panna landscape area.
However, the CEC questioned the connectivity of the three sanctuaries with PTR and also sought to know their proximity with the tiger reserve. The committee also said they were not sure how the addition of area to PTR’s landscape and impounding of water for the river linking project would help wildlife. To compensate for the loss of nearly 50 sq.km of forest from Panna’s core, the NBWL recommended that Nauradehi, Rani Durgavati and Ranipur wildlife sanctuaries should be integrated with the tiger reserve.
The Ken Betwa river linking project was granted wildlife clearance in the NBWL’s meeting on September 19, 2016, it received a nod for forest clearance and environmental clearance in 2017. The project though has been stuck due to lack of consensus between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on water sharing. Sources from Madhya Pradesh water resources department said that there was no consensus on UP’s demands for increasing its share for Rabi crop season.
Wildlife conservationists and river ecologists have panned the river linking project on grounds that it will inflict long-term damage on the Ken River and wildlife in Panna Tiger Reserve. After losing all its tigers to poaching and management issues, Panna bounced back as a roaring success of tiger conservation and the current tiger population is 42.
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