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| River Rushikulya (Source: Flicker) |
‘Rushikulya
Bachao Manch (RBM)' has urged the State government to initiate the process to
link the Mahanadi and the Rushikulya rivers on its own. According to RBM, the
project is not having any legal or technical stumbling block. “The Supreme
Court has opined that the Central and State governments should give priority to
implementing the river-linking project and the pre-feasibility report of
National Water Development Agency (NWDA) is also in favour of the
Mahanadi-Rushikulya river linking from Baramul,” says RBM chairman Ram Chandra
Panda. Mr. Panda, who was the former deputy speaker of the State Assembly, has
been making the demand of RBM to link the Mahanadi and the Rushikulya rivers
since 1986.
Total
cost
As
per the pre-feasibility report of NWDA, the total cost of link canal to connect
the two rivers from Baramul is estimated to be Rs. 3806.61 crore. Annual cost
of the project is estimated to be around Rs. 402.43 crore, while its annual
benefit from irrigation, power and municipal use is worked out to be Rs. 412.88
crore. Seven villages with population of 1331 are likely to be affected by the
barrage to be constructed at Baramul.
Irrigation
The
proposed link canal is to start from proposed Baramul barrage on the Mahanadi
river.
The
link canal would irrigate 1,00,000 hectares in Nayagarh, Khurda, and Ganjam
districts.
Power
generation
The
project also envisions annual power generation of more than 373.30 megawatt. The
RBM activists say the State government has also committed in the State Assembly
to take forward the Mahanadi-Rushikulya river linking plan. “Now it is time for
the State government to keep up the promise and start work on the project as
soon as possible,” says Mr. Panda.
Source: The Hindu
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