The amount of 1400 crores received in the budget for the Ken-Betwa river linking project will definitely bring prosperity to Bundelkhand. After getting approval from the Government of India, all its basic hurdles were already removed. A provision of Rs 44605 crore was made to take this project on the ground, of which Rs 1400 crore has been proposed as the first installment in the budget of 2022-23.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the vision of the 'River Connecting Campaign' by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee a reality. In the context of taking this project on the ground, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had already signed a memorandum of understanding connecting Ken and Betwa rivers under the country's first inter-state river linking project.
This approval will be implemented under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan 'Catch the Run'. It is clear that with this project, not only agriculture will flourish, agro-based industries will also flourish and employment will be available to lakhs of people. In a country troubled by floods and drought, the project of the confluence of rivers is going to take shape, it is a matter of happiness for the countrymen.
If this project of 5500 billion rupees is successful, then the way for the meeting of 60 other rivers will be opened in the future. In fact, it has become necessary due to rising global temperatures, climate change, and changing rainfall cycles. To collect the flood water of rivers and then send it through canals to drought-prone areas. If this becomes possible, then the problem of drinking water will not only be solved, but farmers will also get enough water for irrigation.
About 18 percent of the world's population lives in India and the availability of useful water is only 4 percent. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has already done the work of artificially linking the life-giving Narmada and Mokshadayini Kshipra rivers since these two rivers flow in Madhya Pradesh, so it became possible to connect them.
The governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have engaged long ago in the preparation of connecting the Ken and Betwa rivers. This project was also approved in the year 2005, but there was a dispute over the sharing of water. Now that there are single-party BJP governments in the state and at the Centre, it can be expected that the obstacles will also be removed soon.