interlinking of rivers by network of canal and case-study of ken-betwa project

1. INTERLINKING OF RIVERS IN
INDIA
SUBMITTED TO:
Dr. Baldev Setia
Department of Civil Engineering
National Institute of Technology , Kurukshetra
SUBMITTED BY:
Manish Kumar Galav
11710834

2. National River Linking Project(NRLP)
Introduction
 Formally known as the National Perspective Plan
 River Linking is a project of linking two or more rivers by creating a network of manually created canals
 Transferring water from water surplus basins where there is flooding to water deficit basin where there is
drought/scarcity and reducing flow of water to sea using this means.
 Comprise of 30 links to connect 37 rivers across the nation through the network of nearly 3000 storage
dams
 The interlinking of rivers in India is divided in following two distinct components:
1. Himalayan component: consists 14 links
2. Peninsular component: consists 16 links

5. Regional Rainfall Variation
• The water availability even for drinking purposes
becomes critical, particularly in the summer months
as the rivers dry up and the ground water recedes.
• Regional variations in the rainfall lead to a situations
when some parts of the country do not have enough
water even for raising a single crop. On the other hand
excess rainfall occurring in some parts of the country
create havoc due to floods.
• The summer monsoon accounts for more than 85%
of the total precipitation
• India has uneven distribution of precipitation
with time and locations

6. Increasing Population and Food
Demand
• The population of India, which is around 1300 million at
present, is expected to increase to 1500 to 1800 million in
the year 2050 and that would require about 500 million
tonnes of food grains.
• For meeting this requirement, it would be necessary to
increase irrigation potential to 160 million hectares for all
crops by 2050.

7. Futuristic Demand Of Irrigation
• Irrigation using river water and ground water has been the
prime factor for raising the food grain production in our
country from a mere 50 million tonnes in the 1950s to
more than 200 million tonnes at present, leading us to
attain self-sufficiency in food. • Irrigated area has
increased
• At present estimate the "ultimate" irrigation potential of
the country being stated as 113 million Ha.
• Irrigated area has increased from 22 million hectares to
95 million hectares during this period.

8. To Control Floods & Droughts
• Floods are a recurring feature, particularly in Brahmaputra
and Ganga rivers, in which almost 60 % of the river flows of
our country occur.
• Almost 15% of India is prone to flooding and annually 80 lakhs
hec of crop land damaged.
• Flood damages, which were Rs. 52 crores in 1953, have
gone up to Rs. 5,846 crores in 2018 with annual average
being Rs. 1,343 crores affecting the States of Assam, Bihar,
West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh along with untold human
sufferings.
• On the other hand large areas in the States of Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu face
recurring droughts. As much as 85 % of drought prone area
falls in these States.

10. 1. Irrigation - By linking of rivers vast amount of land areas which
does not have otherwise irrigated and unusable for agriculture
become fertile.
2. Flood and drought prevention – By creating network of rivers
flood and drought problem can be greatly avoided by
channeling excess water to areas that are not experiencing a
flood or are dry. This works similar to canal system in
Netherlands to channel excess water from sea.
3. Generation of electricity - With new canals built, feasibility of
new DAMS to generate hydroelectric power becomes a
possibility.
4. Navigation - Newly created network of canals opens up new
routes and ways and routes of water navigation, which is
generally more efficient and cheaper compared to road
transport.

11. V. Higher GDP Growth - By interlinking rivers, there will be a
boost and increased employment in agricultural sector, power,
transportation; construction etc. Interlinking can increase the
GDP by 5to 6 %.
VI. Business Opportunities – It is expected to generate largescale
business opportunities in manufacture of mechanical equipments,
earthmovers, stone crushers, power shovels, other transportation
vehicles, etc. In addition, this project would also require large
scale manufacturing of construction materials such as an
estimated 56 million tones of cement and 2 million tonnes of
steel etc.
VII. Drinking Water - Majority of our population will get drinking
water; Special emphasis is that all the cities connected by
Golden quadrilateral project will get drinking water.

13. • Aquatic life – A number of leading environmentalists are
of the opinion that the project could be an ecological
disaster. There would be a decrease in downstream flows
resulting in reduction of fresh water inflows into the seas
seriously jeopardizing aquatic life.
• Deforestation –Creation of canals would need large areas
of land resulting large scale deforestation in certain area.
• Areas getting submerged - Possibility of new dams
comes with the threat that habitable or reserved land getting
submerged under water.
• Displacement of people –As large strips of land might have
to be converted to canals, a considerable population living in
this areas must need to be rehabilitated to new areas.

14. Ken-Betwa Interlinking project
 The ken river
• Origin: near Ahirgawan village in Jabalpur District and travels a
distance of 427 km, before merging with the Yamuna at chilla
village , Banda district ,Uttar Pradesh
• Flows through two states , Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
• It is a tributary of the Yamuna
 The Betwa or Betravati River:
• Also a tributary of the Yamuna
• Origin: Betwa rises in the Vindhya Range near Hoshangabad
in Madhya Pradesh
• The confluence of the Betwa and The Yamuna Rivers is
Hamirpur town in Uttar Pradesh, in the vicinity of Orchha

15. Ken-Betwa Linking
Aim: Diversion of surplus water of Ken basin to Water deficit Betwa
basin.
 The project comprises
• Two powerhouse of 2*30 MW and 3*6 MW each.
• Two tunnels of 1.9km long upper level, 1.1 km Long level and
• A 221 km long Ken-Betwa link canal
• Estimated cost of project- 2283 crores(at 2012-13 price level)
Benefits:
• Benefit Cost(BC) Ratio is 1.56
• Will transfer surplus water from MP section of Ken to Betwa in UP
• Provide irrigation facilities for 6,35,661 hectares of land in
 Panna, Chhattarpurr ,Tikamgarh dist in MP and
 Banda,mahoba and Jhansi in UP
• Irrigate nearly 7,00,000 hectares in drought-ravaged Bundelkhand
• Drinking water purpose(6 MCM to 1.65 lakhs population in Shivpuri
district)
• Generation of 78 MW hydropower
• According to the draft project report, MP Will get 2,650 million
cubic metres (MCM) of water and UP 1,700 MCM

16.  Criticism:
 The daudhan dam(288) will submerge at least 4000 hec of MP Panna tiger reserve
 Dangers to wildlife resident in the core region of the Panna tiger reserve
 Since the project involves clearing forest land,affects endangered animals and
involves relocating some farmers, it requires multi-pronged environment clearance
by the ministry of Environment Forests and climate change
 Total submergence in 2723 ha, forest Area- 986ha
Solution offered:
• MP government had promised 8000 hec of alternate forest land as compensation
and much of it currently barren-would be replenished with vegetation that had
once existed in the region

17. Conclusion
 Considering the pragmatic view of all the issues raised it can be concluded that
implementation of this ambitious scheme is not easy in foreseeable future.
 Hence it can be a better option to concentrate on the local resources and
think upon the alternatives available also such as rainwater harvesting,
recharging ground water etc
Thank you
“instead of thinking of interlinking of rivers only at times of flood and drought, it’s time
that we should implement this program with a great sense of urgency”
(Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam)