Second meeting of Ken-Betwa Link Project held on Wednesday

New Delhi [India], July 20 (ANI): The second meeting of the Steering Committee of Ken-Betwa Link Project (SC-KBLP) was held on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Water resources, Ministry of Jal Shakti and was attended by representatives of both the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and officials of various central ministries and NITI Aayog.

Pankaj Kumar in his opening remarks stressed that Ken-Betwa link project which is critical for the water security and socio-economic development of Bundelkhand region, should be implemented in a time-bound manner using state of art technologies and knowhow duly taking care of RR of project-affected people and conservation of the region, particularly the landscape dependent species of Panna Tiger Reserve.

During the meeting, deliberations were held on various agenda items covering follow up actions on decisions taken during the 1st meeting, work plan for year 2022-23, engagement of Project Management Consultancy, land acquisition and RR of affected villages, establishment of offices of Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority, implementation of integrated landscape management plan prepared by Wildlife Institute of India for Greater Panna, financial powers of KBLPA, reimbursement to State on expenditure made etc.

It was also proposed to constitute a Technical Advisory Group for KBLP to review and advise the Authority on various planning and technical matters. An RR Committee to monitor the implementation of RR plan in a transparent and time-bound manner was proposed to be constituted. A Greater Panna Landscape council was also proposed to be constituted for the implementation of Landscape Management Plan (LMP) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) of the project. (ANI)