CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 General
This report deals with the feasibility studies of Ken-Betwa link after carrying
out detailed survey and investigations. It is proposed to divert the surplus
waters of river Ken at Daudhan (2.5 km upstream of existing Gangau weir)
through Ken-Betwa link canal to river Betwa for meeting water
requirements in the water deficit Betwa basin. The purpose of carrying out
this study is to establish the techno-economic viability of the project after
considering the water requirements in the donor and acceptor basins. This
study is a part of long term planning of water resources development
including transfer of water from surplus to deficit regions. The National
Water Policy, adopted by the Government of India in 1987, emphasized
the need for inter basin transfer of water. It states “water should be made
available to water short areas by transfer from other areas including
transfers from one river basin to another, based on a national perspective,
after taking into account the requirements of the areas/basins”. The
National Perspective is described briefly in the following paragraphs.

1.2 National perspectives for water resources development

The erstwhile Union Ministry of Irrigation (now Ministry of Water
Resources) and the Central Water Commission in the year 1980
formulated the National Perspectives for Water Resources Development,
which comprises two main components, viz. Himalayan Rivers
Development and Peninsular Rivers Development. Himalayan Rivers
Development envisages construction of storage reservoirs on the main
Ganga and the Brahmaputra and their principal tributaries in India and
Nepal alongwith inter-linking canal systems to transfer surplus flows of the
eastern tributaries of the Ganga to the West apart from linking of the main
Brahmaputra with the Ganga. Peninsular Rivers Development of the
National Perspectives Plan includes interlinking of major rivers flowing in
the Peninsular India including the southern tributaries of Yamuna. The
major parts of this component are (I) interlinking of Mahanadi-Godavari-
Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery, (ii) interlinking of west flowing rivers, north of
Bombay and south of Tapi, (iii) interlinking of Ken with Chambal and (iv)
diversion of west flowing rivers. The interlinking of these rivers will
envisage construction of storage reservoirs at potential sites and canal
systems for transferring the waters from surplus to deficit basins/areas.
The canals will also include tunnels and lifts, wherever necessary.

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1.3 Aims of the project and description of works
The main aim of the Ken-Betwa link project is to make available water to
water deficit areas of Upper Betwa sub basin from the surplus waters of
Ken basin. A preliminary water balance study of the Ken river upto
Greater Gangau dam site was carried out by NWDA, which indicated that
surplus waters are available in the Ken basin. Accordingly a preliminary
feasibility study for diverting surplus waters of Ken to water short areas of
Betwa basin was carried out to ascertain whether the proposal was
feasible. It was found that the proposal is techno-economically viable.
The proposal included construction of a dam across the Ken river
upstream of the existing Gangau Weir, for storing and transferring of the
waters through a link canal from Ken river to Betwa river. The quantity of
water proposed to be diverted from Ken basin, after considering inbasin
demands and downstream commitments (viz. 1375 Mm3 for Madhya
Pradesh and 850 Mm3 for Uttar Pradesh), is 1020 Mm3.

The proposed Ken-Betwa link project envisages the following works:

i. A dam at the Daudhan on Ken river 2.5 km upstream of the existing
Gangau weir with FRL of 287.0 m and gross storage capacity of
2775 Mm3.

ii. A 2 km long tunnel followed by about 230 km long link canal for
transferring 1020 Mm3 of water from Ken river. Out of 1020 Mm3,
659 Mm3 (after meeting enroute irrigation requirements) will be
released into Betwa river upstream of Parichha weir by utilising the
existing Barwa Sagar as terminal reservoir. The link canal will
offtake from the tail race of Power House No.2 with FSL at 259.0 m.

iii. Two power houses, one at the foot of the dam and other at the end
of 2 km long tunnel. The installed capacities of powerhouse No.1
and powerhouse No.2 are 3X20 MW and 2X6 MW respectively.

iv. The existing outlet (i.e. waste weir on the extreme right side) of
Barwa Sagar shall be used to drop the link canal water into Betwa,
through Barwa river.

v. Diversion of 659 Mm3 of water to Betwa basin upstream of Parichha

weir will be utilised by way of substitution to provide annual irrigation
to 1.27 lakh ha (CCA 1.02 lakh ha) of drought prone areas of Upper
Betwa sub-basin. This irrigation will be provided through four
projects identified by the Water Resources Department, Govt. of

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 Madhya Pradesh namely Barari, Richhan, Neemkheda and Kesari.
This command is termed as ‘Betwa command’ in this report.

vi. Annual irrigation to an area of 47000 ha enroute of the K-B link,

where the level of irrigation is less than 30% of the Culturable area.

vii. Annual irrigation to an area of 3.23 lakh ha (C.C.A. 2.41 lakh ha) as
envisaged under “Ken Multi-purpose Project” earlier proposed by
Madhya Pradesh State Government. This command is termed as
‘Ken command’ in this report.

viii. A provision of 11.75 Mm3 for drinking water supply to the villages
and towns enroute of the link canal. This would cater to the needs
of about 3.3 lakh people at a rate of consumption of 100 lpcd.

1.4 Location of the project

The project area is located in the Panna and Chhatarpur districts of
Madhya Pradesh. The dam site is situated in Chhatarpur district near
Daudhan village about 2.5 km upstream of the age-old Gangau weir. The
Power House No. 1 is located at the foot of the dam on the left bank of Ken
river whereas the Power House No. 2 is located at the end of a 2 km long
tunnel on the right bank of Pukhraha nalla. The link canal runs through
Chhatarpur and Tikamgarh districts of Madhya Pradesh and part of Jhansi
and Hamirpur districts of Uttar Pradesh.

1.5 Accessibility
The project area is approachable by road from Chhatarpur-Panna state
highway. It is about 19 km (WBM road) towards south-west of this road.
The dam site is approachable by a dry weather motorable road about 5 km
from the Irrigation Inspection bungalow at Gangau. The project site is also
approachable by rail upto Satna railway station, which is about 110 km by
road towards Chhatarpur. Khajuraho is the nearest airport, which is 31 km
away from the dam site.

1.6 Climate
The climate of the project area is semi-arid to dry sub-humid. It is
generally tolerable except during the months of January, May and June.
The air being mostly dry except during south west monsoon season.
Summer is hot and winter is generally mild. About 90% of the annual
rainfall is received during the monsoon period i.e. from June to October.

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The average maximum and minimum temperatures are 44.20C and 6.70C
respectively.

1.7 Topography, physiography and geology

The upper reaches of Ken river are flanked by undulating plateau with
sandstone, shale and limestone. Down below, recent alluvium engrosses
the river upto the Gangau dam. The stratigraphy of rock formations found
in the region is mostly alluvial soil, Deccan traps, Lameta beds and
Vindhyan system.

1.8 Population
a) Affected and benefited
Due to creation of Daudhan dam and reservoir about 900 families having a
total population of approximately 8550 persons will be affected from 10
villages. Classification of the population in the submerged area is given in
the Table –7.4 under chapter-7 ‘Reservoir’. A few clusters of population in
some peripheral villages around the reservoir will also be affected as lands
of these villages may come under submergence. The alignment of the link
canal does not affect any population.

The direct irrigation benefits from this project will be to 47000 ha enroute
area of the link and 3.23 lakh ha in the Ken command (as per the earlier
proposed Ken Multi-purpose Project of Madhya Pradesh Government).
This will cover a large population of about 150 villages enroute in
Chhatarpur and Jatara tehsils in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh
and Mahoba and Mauranipur tehsils in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh and
also Chhatarpur and Panna districts of Madhya Pradesh under Ken
command.

The indirect benefits from this project will be irrigation to the drought prone
areas of Raisen and Vidisha districts of Madhya Pradesh State through
four identified projects namely Barari barrage, Neemkheda, Richhan and
Kesari dams, which otherwise are infeasible due to water deficiency in the
Betwa basin. Therefore, transfer of the surplus water from Ken to Betwa
will also facilitate to irrigate 1.27 lakh ha areas annually through these
projects, which in turn shall economically benefit a large population
residing there.

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 b) Occupation

i. Agriculture: About 15 to 20% of the people to be affected in the

submergence are having agriculture as their occupation. Also, most of
the people to be benefited in the command area are dependent on
agriculture, either cultivating their own lands or working as labourers in
agriculture fields.

ii. Other than agriculture: The majority of the population in the

submergence area is dependent on forest products as the reservoir
area is covered mostly by forests. A few of them are either agricultural
or industrial workers.

1.9 Natural resources

Forests are the main source of natural resources of the Daudhan reservoir
area. About 74 percent of the submerged area comes under forests.
Parts of these forests are reserved and a part on the north and south
banks of Ken river is under Panna National Park. The area of the national
park under submergence is about 45 Sqkm. Almost all the forests are
dense and mixed jungles comprising deciduous, a few evergreen to semi-
evergreen and a few xerophytic to semi-xerophytic types of species.
Some of the important species are Teak, Salai, Ber, Bad, Khair, Babul,
Amla, Tendu, Sheesam, Neem, Mahua, Palas, Beja, Haldu, Kari, Ghont,
Kullu etc. Some of the species of mammals are also reported to be in
these forests, which are Tiger, Panther, Cheeta, Jungle Cat, Wolf, Jackal,
Sloth or Indian Bear, Sambhar, Langur etc.

Extensive geological survey made by the Madhya Pradesh State Geology

and Mining Department reveals that large quantities of limestone occur in
the project area. These areas are highly siliceous and magnesious and do
not fetch much economic value. No other valued mineral mines are found
in the project area. The Panna diamond mine is nearby the project area
but does not fall in the jurisdiction of the proposed project boundary.

1.10 Land use and socio-economic aspects

On the basis of the statistics available for the year 1991-92, it is seen that
the area under non-agricultural uses in the enroute command is 6.45%.
The net sown area is 60.23% and the area sown more than once under
miscellaneous crops is 0.16%. Thus the gross cropped area works out to
60.4%. Details of the land use aspects are described in the Chapter-5
‘Hydrology’ of this report. Moreover, a comprehensive study of agro-

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economic and socio-economic aspects of this project has been carried out
by the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi and
their findings are presented in brief in the para – 9.5 of the Chapter-9 of
this report.

1.11 History of the project

(a) Earlier proposals
The Government of Madhya Pradesh formulated proposals for Ken Multi-
purpose project (KMPP) on the Ken river which is also known as Greater
Gangau dam and accordingly a detailed project report (1982) had been
prepared. As per the report, the project envisaged construction of a dam
across the Ken river about 210 m downstream of the existing Gangau weir.
The proposed FRL of the Greater Gangau dam was 278.89 m and
corresponding live storage was 2062 Mm3. This project was expected to
provide annual irrigation to 3.23 lakh ha in Chhatarpur and Laundi tehsils
of Chhatarpur district and Ajaigarh tehsil of Panna district. In this proposal
hydro power generation was also envisaged through construction of two
power houses, one (PH-1) at the foot of the dam and the other (PH-2) on
the left bank of Ken river at 630 m downstream from the first power house.
The installed capacities of the power houses were proposed as 2 x 15 MW
for PH No.1 and 2 x 10 MW for PH No.2.

As per the studies carried out by National Water Development Agency

(NWDA) in the context of the Ken-Betwa link, it was proposed earlier that
the above said Greater Gangau reservoir would be utilised as the head
works for the link. For this purpose, the reservoir at Greater Gangau was
planned with FRL of 284.2 m with live storage capacity of 2544 Mm3, keeping
the other features similar as per the KMPP of Madhya Pradesh State
Government. The Ken-Betwa link was proposed to offtake from the tail race of
the power houses No.1 with FSL 245.5 m to transfer (1100 Mm3) surplus
waters of Ken basin to water short Betwa basin. Accordingly the preliminary
feasibility report on K-B link was prepared in 1990 by NWDA and circulated to all
the concerned basin states. Based on the comments received and discussions
held in the TAC and with basin states, these proposals were further studied and
reviewed whereby it was opted to provide link canal alignment to offtake at
F.S.L. 260.0 m as against the earlier proposed F.S.L. 245.5 m. This is mainly to
serve the command area at higher elevations where the present level of
irrigation is seen to be low. Also it is seen that by the construction of Greater
Gangau dam, the existing Gangau weir, which has been functioning well since
1915, will be submerged. It was, therefore, felt better to locate the dam

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upstream of this weir with possibility of utilising the arrangement for generation of
hydropower as a pumped storage scheme.

(b) Present proposals

Keeping in view of the above mentioned suggestions, it is decided to realign K-
B link canal with higher offtake level. To ascertain the potential reservoir sites on
Ken river, toposheet studies of Ken basin were carried out in the upper reaches
of Greater Gangau dam site. Three reservoir sites are identified viz. Jhalar
reservoir (C.A. 18205 Sqkm), Ghari Ghat reservoir (C.A. 18055 Sqkm) and
Daudhan reservoir (C.A. 19534 Sqkm). These sites are identified on the
downstream side of the confluence of Sonar and Bearma tributaries with Ken
with the obvious advantage of having adequate yield for the proposed irrigation
in Ken basin as planned, as well as transfer of the requisite quantity of water
through the link canal. Several parameters like submergence area, capacity of
the reservoir at different elevations, number of villages affected, forest and
culturable areas under submergence etc. are studied and finally Daudhan dam
site has been found suitable, which is located near Daudhan village at 2.5 km
upstream of Gangau weir. The catchment area at Daudhan site is 19534
Sqkm, which is only 0.16% less than that at Greater Gangau. Therefore, the
annual yield at Greater Gangau has been taken as valid at Daudhan site also.

The FRL of Daudhan dam site has been proposed as 287.0 m and the
corresponding gross storage capacity will be 2775 Mm3. While keeping
the general operational features of the State KMPP proposal more or less
the same, the power generation is proposal is slightly modified as under.
One power house will utilize the irrigation releases from the reservoir at the
tail race water level at 234.75 m. This power house is proposed to function
as a pumped storage power plant i.e. the water released will be further
picked up by Gangau weir, which can be pumped back to generate
additional power during peak period. The other power house is planned at
right bank of Pukhraha Nalla, 2 km away from the dam with a tail water
level 259 m from where Ken-Betwa link canal offtakes. The other details of
the proposal are already discussed in Para 1.3. It can be seen that this
site is more preferable to the Greater Gangau dam site because: (i) it
would not submerge the existing Gangau weir, (ii) it would provide enroute
irrigation to higher level command area along the link canal alignment and
(iii) additional power generation by pumped storage scheme during peak period.

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1.12 Interlinking of the proposed project with other existing and
future projects

As mentioned in the para-1.1, with the transfer of water from Ken river to
Betwa river, four identified irrigation projects in the upper reaches of Betwa
basin can be taken up. Otherwise these projects can not be implemented
due to shortage of water in Betwa basin. Moreover, there are numerous
existing ponds (also called Tals) and reservoirs falling in the vicinity of
231.45 km long link canal, some of which can either be fed and/or water
can be picked up from them in case of emergency.

Although no detailed study has been taken up on this aspect, however, on

the basis of the toposheet studies and the proposed alignment of K-B link
canal, the following tals (or ponds) can be considered:

Name of Tal Tehsil/district

A Tals where K-B link water can be used
1 Bhitar tal Maharajpur/Chhatarpur
2 Motisagar Issanagar/Chhatarpur
3 Issanagar tal Issanagar/Chhatarpur
4 Ramnagar tal Palera/Tikamgarh
5 Kamla Sagar Mauranipur/Jhansi
6 Sidh Sagar Mauranipur/Jhansi
7 Barua Sagar Jhansi/Jhansi

B Tals from where water can be picked up:

1 Sareri tal Nowgong/Chhatarpur
2 Gajadhar tal Nowgong/Chhatarpur

3 Sukh Sagar Maharajpur/Chhatarpur

4 Kotra tal Palera/Tikamgarh

5 Gora tal Nowgong/Chhatarpur
6 Nand Sagar Issanagar/Chhatarpur

7 Dhanera tal Palera/Tikamgarh

8 Bahru tal Jatara/Chhatarpur

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1.13 Interstate aspects

As the project is interstate between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, a

consensus on the sharing of water is a very important issue. The sharing
of Ken water between these two states is governed by the interstate
agreement of 1981, which is based on the yield assessed at that time. The
National Water Development Agency has played a key role in bringing
together the concerned states for a consensus with regard to the yield of
Ken basin at the dam site and efforts are still on for the optimum utilisation
of surplus waters for irrigation development in these states.

1.14 Stages of development of the project

As an alternative to the Ken Multi-purpose Project (KMPP) proposed by

the State Water Resources Department, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh the first
and the foremost demand of the Ken-Betwa link canal project is to fulfill the
requirements of irrigation to the entire culturable command area identified
in the KMPP and then to transfer the surplus waters of the Ken river
through a 231.45 km long canal to the Betwa river. While doing so, a
direct irrigation from the link canal to water short enroute areas in 47000
ha annually shall be taken up in stages alongwith the provision of domestic
water supply enroute and generating electricity through the proposed
power houses.

1.15 Fitment of the scheme in overall development plan of the river

basin

As a result of transferring 659 Mm3 of Ken water to the Betwa river, four
proposed projects upstream of Rajghat dam, which otherwise can not be
taken up for construction due to shortage of water in Betwa basin, can be
implemented. This will provide irrigation to the areas as mentioned below
against the respective projects.

Sl. Name of project Annual irrigation

No.
i Barari barrage 87009 ha
ii Neemkhera dam 1053 ha
iii Richhan dam 36828 ha
iv Kesari dam 1840 ha
Total 126730 ha

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1.16 Cost and benefits of the scheme

The total estimated cost of the project has been worked out to be Rs.
1988.74 crore (1994-94 price level). The unitwise cost is as under:

A Main Project
Unit – I : Head Rs. 367.92 crore
works
Unit – II : Canals Rs. 572.44 crore
Unit – III : Power Rs. 50.72 crore
B Ken Command Rs. 554.11 crore
C Betwa Command Rs. 443.55 crore

The annual benefits to be accrued from the project when completed with
the annual irrigation to areas of about 4.97 lakh ha (47000 ha in enroute
command, 3.23 lakh ha in Ken command and 1.27 lakh ha in Betwa
command) has been worked out to be Rs. 449.79 crore.

The benefit cost ratio for K-B link project as a whole works out to be as
1.87. The internal rate of return works out to be as 13.0%.

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