The project impacts the tiger’s habitat and food security

The 14 districts of Bundelkhand region spanning over Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have always had a perennial problem of water scarcity. The population has to buy water to manage the most difficult summer months. This is exacerbated by the gradual disappearance of 10,000 ponds that were once a reassuring source of water supply.Government solutions were never long-lasting.The water woes have teamed up with erratic electricity supply issues to create a double whammy for the delicate agri-economy. Crops die premature deathsfor want of irrigation. The recent Union cabinet nod to the Ken-Betwa River Interlinking Project has brought a fresh wave of optimism in this situation. The euphoria comes with skepticismabout the full impact of the initiative and the collateral damages it can cause. The project with Rs 44,605 crore funding is a new year’s gift for Bundelkhand. It is slated to be completed in 8 years, benefitting the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen of Madhya Pradesh, and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh. But going by the study published in “The Current Science” titled “The inter-linking of rivers and biodiversity conservation: a study of Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh”, the environmental and wildlife cost of the project seems to have been lost in the excitement of announcing the project. This is strengthened by the fact that the requisite environmental, forest and wildlife clearances for the project are still not properly in place. As per the study report, the implementation of the project will submerge nearly 58 sq. km of the core area of the Panna Tiger Reserve. The Panna Tiger Reserve is included in the global network of biosphere reserves by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2020. For the tiger which is a protected species that is already fighting extinction the project could not have come at a worse time as it not only translates to loss of habitat but also loss of food security as the project threatens the habitat of Chital and Sambar, the natural prey of the tiger. These wildlife setbacks are in addition to the environmental impact of losing over 2 million trees which would either be felled or get submerged. Unfortunately, as pointed in the report, the soon to be submerged area shows rich tree density and diversity as compared to other areas of the Reserve. Moreover, by observing the regeneration pattern it is apparent that the seedling diversity, richness and sapling densityare high in the submerged area.Clearly, such widespread ecological and wildlife devastation could not have been missed by the experts who cleared the project, but yet the project has received a go ahead.

The project to interlink Ken and Betwa rivers surely has people’s welfare as its core objective and that is appreciable, but the fact that the initiative turns a blind eye to environmental and wildlife collateral damage is disconcerting. The project architects could have done well to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)exercise for the project and made the EIA report public in order to assess accurately the perceived damage to the flora and fauna of the region on account of the project implementation. Local population and Bundelkhand environmental experts could also have been consulted before green flagging the project, this in turn would have provided ownership of the project to the local indigenous people.  Bundelkhand needs a break from water scarcity, but not at the cost of the wildlife and environment. There is still time to consider this before the project takes off.

(The writer is an environmental journalist. The views expressed are personal.)