Recently, during his visit to the Panna Tiger Reserve, the environment minister had told a group of journalists that he would not allow the KenBetwa river linking project as it would lead to disastrous consequences. The state minister for agriculture, who represents the Patharia Assembly constituency in Damoh district, has countered Mr Ramesh by taking him head on over the KenBetwa river linking project and starting a debate on its impact on environment. He has made it categorically clear that more number of trees would be planted to offset the loss in the submergence area once this project takes off. This debate has signs of acquiring political overtones as those in the ruling BJP are gearing up to describe any move to shelve this project as anti-people and contrary to the interests of the farmers of Bundelkhand region. Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had hailed the river linking programme as “bold and historic" and had also emphasised that it was “set to change the water management paradigm in the country". Read the full report here.
Source: Lalit Shastri, Asian Age, Bhopal.
