The State Government has asked various departments to expedite the process for getting stage-II forest clearance for Brutang Irrigation Project in Nayagarh district.
The Brutang project will irrigate 23,300 hectares in Daspalla, Khandapara, Nayagarh, Nuagaon and Odagaon blocks of Nayagarh district when completed. Official sources said the project will benefit 7.42 lakh people of 309 villages of the district besides supplying drinking water to Nayagarh town.
Minister of State for Energy Arun Kumar Sahu on Monday reviewed the progress in the implementation of the project. Describing the project as the lifeline of Nayagarh district, Sahu asked the officials to take the help of people’s representatives for its early completion.
However, the stage-I clearance, accorded to the project, has created concerns over submergence of a key elephant corridor. According to environmentalists, the project will destroy a route regularly used by elephants.
The order of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), granting stage-1 forest clearance to the project, included a large number of conditions intended to safeguard the wildlife such as building overpasses to allow elephants to cross the canal. The proposed submergence area is adjacent to the Baisipalli Wildlife Sanctuary. A study team found that both the submergence area and the canal that will connect the Brutang and Kuanria reservoirs are being regularly used by elephants during their transit across the Mahanadi each summer. The corridor is also used by tigers, ‘sambars’ and many birds.
The meeting was attended by Rudramadhav Ray, BJD MP from Kandhamal, BJD Rajya Sabha member Rabinarayan Mohapatra, BJD MLA from Khandapara Siddhartha Sekhar Singh and senior officials from Water Resources Department.