The Second Meeting of Steering Committee of Ken-Betwa Link Project (SC-KBLP) was held today at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Secretary, DoWR, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti. The meeting was attended by representatives of both the States of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and officials of various Central Ministries and NITI Aayog.
Secretary, DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS in his opening remarks stressed that Ken-Betwa link project which is critical for the water security and socio-economic development of Bundelkhand region, should be implemented in a time bound manner using state of art technologies and know-how duly taking care of R&R of project affected people and conservation of the region, particularly the landscape dependent species of Panna Tiger Reserve.
During the meeting, deliberations were held on various agenda items covering follow up actions on decisions taken during the 1st meeting, work plan for year 2022-23, engagement of Project Management Consultancy, land acquisition and R&R of affected villages, establishment of offices of Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority, implementation of integrated landscape management plan prepared by Wildlife Institute of India for Greater Panna, financial powers of KBLPA, reimbursement to State on expenditure made etc.
It was also proposed to constitute a Technical Advisory Group for KBLP to review and advise the Authority on various planning and technical matters. An R&R Committee to monitor the implementation of R&R plan in transparent and time bound manner was proposed to be constituted. A Greater Panna Landscape council was also proposed to be constituted for implementation of Landscape Management Plan (LMP) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) of the project.
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