Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Vijay Goel has stated that work on Ken Betwa link project will begin by the middle of this year. Chairing the twelfth meeting of the Special Committee for Inter –linking of river held in New Delhi today Shri Goel said though deliberation on river linking project were going on in our country for many years, it is going to take real shape now only.Shri Goel said that his Ministry has identified five priority links for taking up the work of inter liking of rivers. He said all most all clearances have been obtained for Ken Betwa link. The Minister said all Inter linking projects should be completed in the time bound manner. The meeting confirmed the minutes of the 11th meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers held on November 09, 2016 at New Delhi.
It also reviewed the follow-up action on the decisions taken during the last meeting. The other issues taken up included Ken-Betwa Link Project Phase-I-Status of various statutory clearances, Ken-Betwa Link Project Phase –II – Present status of DPR, Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Projects – Present status of DPRs System Simulation Studies of Mahanadi-Godavari, Surplus Water in River Basin for Interlinking of Rivers, Status of Intra-State link proposals, Restructuring of National Water Development Agency. Union Cabinet in its meeting held on July 24, 2014 approved the constitution of the Special Committee on ILR. Accordingly, Special Committee on ILR was constituted vide order dated September 23, 2014. The first meeting of the committee was held on October 17, 2014. The committee, after considering the views of all the stakeholders, is proceeding ahead to expedite the objectives of the interlinking of rivers as per terms of reference. Vigorous efforts have been made for generating consensus with development of alternative plans and also setting out road maps for implementation of projects.