The ‘double engine’ government of the Centre and the state is proving to be more than useful for the all-round development of Bundelkhand, which had been striving for government's attention till 2017.
Dozens of projects, from Bundelkhand Expressway to Defence Industrial Corridor, are going to be milestones in the development of Bundelkhand region. Seven major projects have been completed in the state in the last four and a half years and many more are on the verge of completion.
Among several irrigation projects, the green signal to the Ken-Betwa river linking project, which had been gathering dust for almost 15 years, is proving to be an icing on the cake. The Central government approved the Ken-Betwa link project in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The ambitious project will help every household and every field in Bundelkhand to get adequate water. It also aims to generate 103 MW of hydro power and 27 MW of solar power.
Through the project, farmers and lakhs of people of several districts, including Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jhansi and Lalitpur, will be supplied with pure drinking water. The water level in the arid Bundelkhand region is also set to rise due to this project. An agreement in this regard was signed between Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Jal Shakti Minister on March 22 last. Once operational, this project will fulfil former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s vision of reaching abundant water to areas which have been in the grip of frequent drought and have been facing acute shortage of water. The former prime minister had floated the idea to connect the rivers with each other.
UP Jal Shakti Minister Dr Mahendra Singh said that the previous governments in the state never took the problems of farmers or common people seriously as a result Bundelkhand region remained parched and dry but the Yogi Adityanath government completed projects pending for decades on a priority.
“With the completion of seven major irrigation projects in the Bundelkhand region in five years, more than 2,16,666 hectares of irrigation capacity has been increased and more than 2,28,345 farmers are benefiting. For 2021-22, a target has been set to complete 12 projects, of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Saryu Canal National Project on December 11. The project had been pending for 44 years. This will increase the irrigation capacity and benefit about 29.74 lakhs farmers of eastern UP,” Singh said.