NEW DELHI: The first step towards implementation of the much talked about Inter-Linking of Rivers programme will be taken here this coming Thursday with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Ken-Betwa river link being signed by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur and Uttar Pradesh Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The ceremony will be held in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament House and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also likely to attend.

The two States have not really sorted out technical differences on the allocation of river waters but have agreed to preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR). According to highly placed Ministry sources, the technical glitches would be sorted out at the DPR stage. The preparation of the DPR would take three to four years.

The multi-purpose link was identified by the National Democratic Alliance Government for implementation as an "example" to give a push to the river linking programme which envisages construction of 30 links at an estimated cost of Rs. 5,60,000 crores.

Ken is an inter-state river with 87 per cent catchment area in Madhya Pradesh.

Betwa, also an inter-state river, rises in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh and flows across Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh with a 31 per cent flow in U.P.

The project, at an estimated cost of Rs. 1988.74 crores (at 1994-95 level), envisages diversion of about 1,020 million cubic metres "surplus" waters of the Ken to the water-deficit Betwa basin for integrated development of the lower zone of the Ken valley and the upper reaches of the Betwa.

About 2,135 hectares of land in Madhya Pradesh and 180 hectares in Uttar Pradesh would be acquired for the link canal. While a dam is proposed on the Ken at Daudhan, 2.5 km upstream of the existing Gangau weir, to divert water, six more dams would be built.

The construction work for the link project is planned for nine years including the pre-construction year.

An estimated 900 villages and over 9,000 hectares of land would be submerged entirely in the Chhatarpur and Panna districts in Madhya Pradesh.

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