Dates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of the Ken-Betwa river link project at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. On the occasion, he also inaugurated the Omkareshwar Floating Solar Project in Khandwa district of the state.
Union Water Resources Minister CR Patil and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav handed over two kalashas (urns) containing water from the Betwa and Ken rivers respectively to Modi, who poured them into a sample of the project to launch the ambitious programme.
Under this project estimated to cost Rs 44,605 crore, 4.4 lakh people in 10 districts of Madhya Pradesh and 2.1 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh will get drinking water.
About 7.18 lakh farm families in 2,000 villages will benefit from the project, which will also generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW of solar power, officials said.
Modi also released a commemorative stamp and a coin in his memory on the occasion of the birth centenary of former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The Vajpayee government had proposed linking the river to deal with irrigation needs and floods.
PM Modi also performed the ‘Bhoomipujan’ or foundation-laying ceremony for the construction of 1,153 Atal Gram Seva Sadans at a cost of Rs 437 crore at the Khajuraho event.