Ken-Betwa project, a threat to wildlife?

An ambitious project to link Ken and Betwa rivers has become a stage for a unique man-animal conflict. Proponents of the project, led by the Union Water Ministry, say that the proposed Daudhan dam and the 2.5 km canal — the key structures of the project — that will transfer surplus water from the Uttar Pradesh section of the Ken to the Betwa in Madhya Pradesh are critical to irrigate nearly 7,00,000 hectares in drought-ravaged Bundelkhand.

However, environmentalists say that such a dam will submerge at least 4,000 hectares of Madhya Pradesh’s Panna tiger reserve, whose tigers were almost lost to poaching in 2009 and have only recently been partially replenished. They allege that most districts in Madhya Pradesh will not actually get the promised water. There are vultures in the region, whose nests will be threatened by the height of the dam.

Multi-pronged clearance

Since the project involves clearing forest land, affects endangered animals and involves relocating some farmers, it requires multi-pronged environmental clearance by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change. The National Board for Wildlife has constituted a committee of experts, which includes ecologists, hydrologists, representatives from the Water Ministry, and tiger conservationists to study the impact on wildlife. Their go-ahead is essential for the environmental impact assessment and forest clearance by the Madhya Pradesh government. These authorities have given an ‘in-principle’ clearance but funds for the project — Rs. 9,000 crore — won’t be cleared by the Union Cabinet unless all the clearances are in order.

Frustrated by the pace of clearance, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti earlier this week threatened to “go on an agitation” if there were more hurdles to the wildlife clearance.

‘Express pace’

Raman Sukumar, ecologist at the Indian Institute of Science who chairs the NBWL’s committee assessing the project, disagreed. He told The Hindu that the project was being “processed at an express pace. We were only asked to do it in February and if there’s a tiger sanctuary involved it’s an exhaustive assessment.”

[source:TheHindu]