The Union Environment Ministry has deferred Madhya Pradesh’s proposal to divert over 740 hectares of reserve forest land in Sheopur district for constructing a dam and micro-irrigation system.

The project area lies within the Kuno National Park landscape, where cheetahs were translocated from Africa since September 2022. The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) mandated a no-objection certificate from Project Cheetah under the National Tiger Conservation Authority before clearance can be granted. The irrigation scheme on the seasonal Aheli river aims to address severe water scarcity affecting 40,000 people in 34 villages and improve agricultural yields in this drought-prone region.

However, the project involves felling over 20,000 trees and submerging nearly 700 hectares of forest. The FAC has called for a detailed environmental impact assessment, including the river’s seasonal flow and downstream effects, and recommended exploring larger compensatory afforestation areas. The state has assured reuse of excavated materials to avoid muck disposal issues.