Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday inaugurated 59 lift irrigation projects in 13 districts.
About 80,000 hectare of dry land will be irrigated through these facilities that have been constructed under the Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation project at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore. The chief minister also laid foundation stone for 33 mega lift irrigation projects on the occasion. On the completion of the projects, 50,000 hectare of land in 9 districts will get irrigation facility.
Inaugurating the projects through video-conferencing, the chief minister said the government’s agriculture budget has tripled in 5 years to reach Rs 25,000 crore. Stating that KALIA Yojana has proved beneficial for the farmers, he said the government has spent Rs 600 crore towards their crop insurance and provided interest-free loans upto Rs 1 lakh.
On his government’s steps on development of irrigation under 5T initiative, Naveen said major projects including Upper Indravati, Lower Indravati, Deo and Subarnarekha have benefited the farmers. Besides, Gangadhar Meher and Lower Suktel projects will be operational soon, he added.
Moreover, 20 in-stream storage structure projects are being taken up to further strengthen the agriculture sector and improve the income sources of the farmers, he said.
The Chief Minister launched the e-megalift App developed by OCAC on the occasion.
It may be noted that the Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Project was started in 2011. So far, 208 projects have been completed providing irrigation to 2,64,330 hectare. Similarly, 170 projects have been taken up in the second phase for irrigating 1,13,540 hectare.
Water Resources Minister Tukuni Sahu participated in the programme while Banki MLA Debi Ranjan Tripathy and Ghasipura MLA Badri Narayan Patra joined through video conferencing.
Anu Garg, Development Commissioner, Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment Department, senior officials of the Water Resources department, Collectors of various districts and farmers were present.
