With questions raised in the Parliament about the contentious Ken-Betwa river linking project, Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejunevation Uma Bharti said that river interlinking was the solution to balance out water issues between deficit and surplus regions.

The questions were raised in Lok Sabha by MP Ajay Mishra from Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.

Bharti claimed that the Ken Betwa project would annually irrigate over six lakh hectares of land in Bundelkhand, thus positively affecting 70 lakh people. In addition, it would generate 78 megawatts of electricity.  However, 7000 families will be displaced due to the project. Uma Bharti mentioned that the displaced population is willingly giving up their land for this project for compensation. The Prime Minister’s office has expedited clearances for the said project, she mentioned.

While accusing the Congress for non-action on project for the last ten years, Bharti said that Rahul Gandhi has never spoken in support of the project. She went on to say that the Modi government has been the first to take this project seriously, making clearances available in less than three years. She mentioned that the project will eradicate poverty, improve food security, generate employment and create water surplus in Bundelkhand.

The project has recently hit a road block, as the state government of Madhya Pradesh has not submitted their ”No Objection Certificate,’ as it has supposedly fallen apart with UP on the grounds of water sharing agreement. Also in June 2016, Uma Bharti had threatened to go an indefinite hunger strike if requisite clearances were not awarded to this project.

Environmentalists have been strongly opposing the project. They say it is expected to submerge over 4000 hectares of the Panna Tiger Reserve and with it the core habitat of the tiger, the prime habitat of the almost extinct vultures and over 23 lakh trees within the forest area. Beyond this, they also mention that the figures stated by the government are not based on any recent hydrological study and that a fresh evaluation needs to be done. Also, it is feared that villages all along the river, both upstream and downstream of the proposed dam, stand to lose their river and their rights to usage of the river water.