Water Ministry to again approach Cabinet on Ken-Betwa river-linking project

The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) is going to prepare a fresh Cabinet note for the implementation of the Ken-Betwa river linking project in view of its decision to club Phase-I and Phase-II of the project, which will ensure escalation of costs, sources privy to the development said.

The decision comes in the wake of a meeting between Union Minister of Water Resources Nitin Gadkari and top bureaucrats of the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, and a meeting of the special committee for inter-linking of rivers that was held on Wednesday. The Union Minister reviewed river linking projects in the meeting on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the ministry has also decided to soon call for a meeting between the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra soon to stamp out their differences over water sharing from the Par-Tapi-Narmada river linking projects and expedite signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

As a result of the decision to club Phase-I and Phase-II of the project on MP's demand, the MoWR also has to re-work the funding pattern and go before the Public Investment Board. The revised combined cost of the project is approximately Rs 28,000 crore and the Centre is pushing for a change in the funding pattern from 60:40 Centre-State ratio to a 90:10 ratio. Top officials from the ministry claimed that after combining Phase-I and Phase-II, a total area of 9 lakh hectares will be irrigated across both states.

In the meeting on Tuesday, Gadkari also discussed issues pertaining to the execution of construction works as raised by the MP government. Officials from the MP government said that instead of a Special Purpose Vehicle, construction works across the states should be executed by their respective state agencies. Gadkari, though, did not agree to this alternative.