BHAWANIPATNA: The first mega lift irrigation project of the state on Ret river in Laitara village in Kesinga block has failed to achieve its objective.
The project, dedicated to people by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on December 12 2015, was built at a cost of Rs 4.98 crore with an objective to facilitate all-weather irrigation to 500-hectare land in Laitara, Jolko and Karlabadi villages.
As per the design of the project, executed by L&T, water from the river is collected in an intake well and then discharged through a pump to the fields.
However, except when the river is in spate, water cannot be collected in the intake well of the project due to its faulty design. The location of the intake well, away from the river’s mainstream, is not ideal for filling it up with water. What’s worse is that the intake well is now lying in a damaged condition.
Executive Engineer of mega lift irrigation projects, Titilagarh Gourang Mandal said the project remains affected as the intake well is not getting adequate water. He said the Chief Engineer’s office has been apprised of the matter. There is a need to construct a storage on the river bed so that the intake well can get adequate water throughout the year.
Six more mega lift irrigation projects were constructed in Kalahandi district in 2016 and 2017 at Utkella, Amath, Tundla, Digsara, Hatikhoj and Palam. Around 7,500 hectare land is irrigated by water from Tel river through these projects.