Citizens' Accountability LedgerWho owned the mess? 25 years, every party, on the record

Case 72 · Environment

Ken-Betwa river link. A tiger reserve for a headline

Approved 2021. Launched Dec 2024.

Warnings overridden

598 days since Recorded outcome: Warnings overridden.

Human cost Est
~7,000 mostly tribal families across 21 to 22 villages to lose land and homes
Financial cost Est
₹44,605 cr; up to 2 to 4 million trees felled; core Panna Tiger Reserve submerged

What happened

The Ken-Betwa river-linking project, approved in 2021 and launched by the Prime Minister in December 2024, will dam the Ken to send water to the Betwa, submerging around 9,000 hectares, including roughly 5,800 hectares of the core of the Panna Tiger Reserve.

Claim against record

What the government said

The government says the project will bring water to drought-hit Bundelkhand and irrigate lakhs of hectares.

What the record shows

Warnings overridden

The Supreme Court's own Central Empowered Committee warned of irreversible damage, and experts called it a designed disaster, yet it was pushed through as a showpiece for river-linking. Madhya Pradesh bears the ecological and human cost, thousands of tribal families lose ancestral land, and the environmental warnings were simply overruled.

What accountability should have looked like

Weigh irreversible tiger-habitat and forest loss honestly, exhaust local water options first, and secure genuine, informed consent from displaced tribal communities.

Ministers and office-holders responsible

Naming who held the portfolio is a matter of public record. It is not by itself a finding of personal responsibility for any death or any rupee.

Sources

T1 primary record · T2 reporting · T3 partisan

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Cite or export this case

Citizens' Accountability Ledger, "Ken-Betwa river link. A tiger reserve for a headline" (Approved 2021. Launched Dec 2024.), case-34. https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-34/

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