Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has thanked his Jharkhand counterpart Hemanta Soren for taking up construction work of the Ichha dam over river Kharkai, one of the major tributaries of Subarnarekha.
Thanking the Jharkhand Chief Minister for extending cooperation in providing water to Subarnarekha Irrigation Project of Odisha during Kharif season, Naveen said that the Subarnarekha Multipurpose Project was taken up as a follow-up action for utilisation of water resources of Subarnarekha-Kharkhai Basin as per the 1978 tripartite agreement among the erstwhile Bihar (now Jharkhand), Odisha and West Bengal.
Stating that the Subarnarekha Irrigation Project of Odisha will be able to utilise its full irrigation potential only after completion of Ichha dam by Jharkhand government, the Odisha Chief Minister assured that his government will extend all cooperation for the construction of the dam and reimburse Odisha’s share of cost in time.
Informing that the Odisha government has paid Rs 1026.91 crore to the Jharkhand government for the above work till date where Odisha’s estimated share of the cost is Rs 1208 crore (2016 price level), he said 36 villages of Odisha are affected under Ichha Dam reservoir submergence area at the full reservoir level (FRL) of 225 metres.
Stating that the land acquisition and Resettlement & Rehabilitation (R&R) work in Odisha portion have been taken up, Naveen said as of now, 5196 acres of land (98%) out of 5283 acres has already been acquired. Besides, rehabilitation assistance has been paid to 1268 Project Affected Persons (PAPs) out of total identified 1369 PAPs, which is about 93%.
He further said that although the Chandil dam across river Subarnarekha has been completed, water has been stored up to 181.50 metres during monsoon against the FRL of 192 metres due to R&R issues. As the full storage capacity has not been utilised in the dam during monsoon season, Odisha is facing floods more often, he pointed out.
The Odisha Chief Minister sought the cooperation of the Jharkhand government in the early completion of Ichha dam for benefit of farmers of both the states and the FRL in Chandil dam in monsoon season for the mitigation of flood in Odisha.
