Bharat Dogra argues that at a time when the adverse effects of climate change are being increasingly felt, any such project that would require felling of a million trees could end up in potential disaster.
For a long time a gigantic and recklessly ambitious project proposed in India for linking about 37 rivers at 30 or more places had been largely dormant. Things started moving in its favor after the NDA government came to power in 2014. Now with the Cabinet approval being granted to the firstsub-project of the wider national project called Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) in Central India on 8 December 2021( although some clearances are still to be obtained), the wider project also appears to have gathered momentum.
At a time when the adverse effects of climate change are being increasingly felt, any project that would require felling of a million trees sounds disastrous to be taken up for consideration. In the case of KBLP a figure of over 2 million trees are likely to be felled going by the figures provided by the sub-committee of the Forest Advisory Committee several years back. It was also stated at that time that by the time the project comes to the stage of implementation the number of threatened trees would be much more. If these many trees are going to be felled for a dam and canal project to transfer water from Ken river to Betwa river, then should it not be a good enough reason to shelve the controversial project?
The Ken and Betwa river basins are neighbouring basins, experiencing similar weather conditions — flood or drought, at the same time, so in any case the entire plan of transferring water from surplus to deficit area makes little sense. The project is supposed to help Bundelkhand region, but there are many reports and studies suggesting that the problems can be solved at lesser cost and without ecological disruption using many low-budget initiatives. Due to reckless sand mining, the Ken river and its tributaries have been badly ravaged. This river system needs protection, not transfer of its water.
While objections have been repeatedly voiced by local people and several eminent experts, including those who have occupied senior positions in the government in water, environment and related areas, these have not come in the way of the government giving approval to KBLP. There is a growing concern about the possibilities of much bigger, in fact colossal damage from Indian River Link Project (IRLP).
The IRLP involves the linking of around 37 or so rivers by creating a vast network of dams and estimated 15000 km. canals. These figures give us an approximate idea of the magnitude of the project. Government authorities claim that IRLP will increase irrigation and domestic water supply significantly, while also making substantial additions to hydel power generation. However, the authorities have not been able to provide any reliable information on the number of people who will be displaced by the project nor environmental impact.
There is a very clear need to make a distinction between the natural confluence of rivers and the forced human made linkages such as the ones being attempted in this project. The natural confluences of various rivers evolved over thousands or even lakhs of years in keeping with the overall geographic and topographical situations. The biodiversity of the river and nearby areas has thus well adjusted to this. Changing natural flow of rivers for forced linkages can play havoc with the bio-diversity of both rivers. Due to changing paths, water availability including water recharge over vast areas can be adversely affected. Rivers may show resistance to the diverted paths and this can lead to flooding. Water flow may have to be lifted across divergence path requiring vast energy sources.
Some basic aspects of this very costly project are questionable hence it is very important to initiate a wide and well-informed debate on this gigantic project at an early stage to prevent an unprecedented ecological havoc, that too in times of climate change.