India Completes Its Longest River-Linking Canal Connecting Ken an...

India has completed the first phase of the Ken-Betwa River Linking Project, inaugurating a 221-kilometre canal that will transfer surplus water from the Ken river in Madhya Pradesh to the drought-prone Betwa basin. The project, the first of 30 planned inter-river linkages under India national river-linking programme, is expected to irrigate 1.08 million hectares and provide drinking water to 6.2 million people in the Bundelkhand region, one of India most water-stressed zones. The Daudhan Dam, the key storage infrastructure of the project, reached its designed height of 73 metres after six years of construction. Critics have raised concerns about the submergence of over 9,000 hectares of Panna Tiger Reserve forest, though wildlife corridors have been constructed as mitigation. The Union Water Minister called completion a transformational moment for Central India agriculture.