Inter-linking of River (ILR) is a pan-India initiative that has in recent times been undertaken as a high priority. The end goal is to connect many of the perennial rivers of India to other water-scarce rivers to ensure drought-reduction. Additionally, the scheme will ensure generation of large quantities of hydroelectric power.

This film project will focus on is the Ken-Betwa link project which will connect the Ken and Betwa rivers through a canal that runs across the drought prone Bundelkhand region. Bundelkhand is a region that lies between the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh overlapping the state border.

The benefits of the project are immense, but there are also several problems that its implementation will cause. Environmentalists argue that the harm caused will be immense.

As part of the project, a large expanse of forest land will be submerged. Panna is a tiger reserve, which 8 years ago was in extreme decline with only one tiger presumed to be left.  Through painstaking efforts to repopulate the area, today, there are 36 tigers there. The river linking project will unfortunately submerge a large part of the core area of the Panna tiger reserve. The area is also the habitat of many animal species including gharials, vultures and so on. In order to construct a dam (Daudhan dam) many of these animals would have their homes submerged. Additionally, based on other case studies, the mixing of two river artificially can affect the aquatic fauna adversely.

Many villages will be submerged and their inhabitants will be relocated as per the project plans. Conservative estimates put this number at around 2000.

News reports have even suggested that not every inhabitant of the area is desirous of the interlink. Alterative suggestions have been given by locals and environmentalists alike, such as creation of ponds and such water bodies.

The project is at this present time moving ahead, with an eye on the big picture, despite the many detrimental effects it is opined, it’ll have on the area.