Protest ends, but the questions over the Ken-Betwa Link Project remain

By Bharat Dogra 

On July 19, police dispersed a peaceful protest against the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district. The movement's leader, Amit Bhatnagar, who had been on an indefinite fast for nearly two weeks, was taken to hospital. According to "The Tribune" (July 20), he announced soon after his admission that he would continue his fast.

The protest highlighted several concerns regarding the rehabilitation and compensation package offered to villagers facing displacement. In a detailed report published on June 27, "Dainik Bhaskar", one of Madhya Pradesh's leading newspapers, pointed out that villagers facing complete displacement due to the dam submergence area have been offered significantly lower compensation than those affected by the link canal, many of whom face only partial displacement.

While the concerns of project-displaced families deserve urgent attention, there are also broader and equally significant questions about the Ken-Betwa Link Project that several environmentalists, researchers and this writer have raised over the years. These issues require serious consideration if India is to avoid irreversible ecological damage and the waste of scarce public resources.

The loss of even a single tree is regrettable and should be avoided wherever possible. But when a project threatens several million trees, the issue demands national attention.

The Ken-Betwa Link Project seeks to transfer water from the Ken River to the Betwa River in the Bundelkhand region through a large dam and a 220-km canal. In the process, an enormous number of trees are slated to be felled. Although only a few thousand trees have been cut so far, this should not be mistaken for the total scale of the impending loss.

In 2017, the official Forest Advisory Committee estimated that around 2.3 million (23 lakh) trees would ultimately be affected. It also noted that by the time the project reaches its final stages, many younger plants in protected forests would have matured into trees, potentially doubling the number of trees requiring felling. While estimates of about 4.6 million trees have therefore been cited in public debate, even a more conservative estimate of around three million (30 lakh) trees represents an intolerably high environmental cost at a time when climate change is already intensifying.

This environmental loss comes alongside other significant costs: the full or partial displacement of thousands of households, disruption of wildlife habitats within the renowned Panna Tiger Reserve, broader ecological damage, and potential threats to important heritage sites and landscapes of exceptional natural beauty.

The obvious question, therefore, is whether the benefits of the project are substantial enough to justify such enormous environmental and social costs.

The project's promised benefits—expanded irrigation, drinking water supply and hydropower generation—rest on a crucial assumption: that the Ken River has adequate surplus water available for transfer to the Betwa.

This assumption has been questioned for several years. During the dry season, the Ken's flow has often been observed to be very low. Moreover, indiscriminate and excessive sand mining has significantly damaged the river's water-carrying capacity, prompting repeated appeals to protect the river from further degradation. Several of its tributaries have also been severely depleted.

Under these circumstances, transferring water from the Ken risks creating water shortages for communities that already depend heavily on the river. Many of these communities, including those in Banda and surrounding villages, experience some of India's highest summer temperatures. Understandably, people ask whether it is justified to divert water away from areas that themselves require more water during the dry season.

Indeed, if the Ken's dry-season flows continue to decline—as many fear they may—the anticipated surplus water may simply not exist by the time the project becomes operational several years from now.

There is another fundamental contradiction. The project is presented as a solution to water scarcity, yet it involves the destruction of around three million trees. Trees are among the most effective natural systems for conserving water, maintaining groundwater recharge and stabilizing local rainfall patterns. In Bundelkhand itself, deforestation has long been recognized as a major contributor to worsening water scarcity.

If the projected benefits of the Ken-Betwa Link Project prove uncertain, an obvious question arises: could its estimated budget of ₹45,000 crore (about US$5.4 billion) produce better results if invested differently?

Bundelkhand possesses a rich heritage of traditional water tanks, ponds and other community-managed water bodies built over several centuries. These structures embody the accumulated wisdom and engineering skills of generations of local communities. Restoring and modernizing them offers a highly cost-effective means of enhancing water security.

The region has also witnessed promising innovations. Local farmer-scientist Mangal Singh has developed the widely appreciated Mangal Turbine, capable of supporting both irrigation and small-scale hydropower generation. In many villages, solar-powered irrigation and farm development initiatives have already demonstrated encouraging results.

Having worked as a journalist and author in more than 100 villages across Bundelkhand, I believe there is considerable evidence that the same financial resources could achieve better and more sustainable outcomes in irrigation, drinking water supply and renewable energy through decentralized, locally adapted approaches. Such alternatives could be implemented more quickly while avoiding the massive ecological and social costs associated with the Ken-Betwa Link Project, including the felling of approximately three million trees.

These trees can still be saved. They should be.

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The author is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, A Day in 2071, and Planet in Peril. His website is bharatdogra.in, and his YouTube channel is Bharat Dogra | Save Earth Campaign