ROURKELA: After being stalled for 23 years, the BJP government is moving ahead with the proposed Ib irrigation dam at Katnidihi in Subdega block of the Talsara in rain-fed Sundargarh district, despite public resistance.
The project, which aims to irrigate about 1.06 lakh hectares across the Talsara and Sundargarh assembly constituencies, has remained on the backburner since receiving in-principle approval during 2003-04. It faced stiff opposition from locals fearing large-scale displacement.
With the government recently initiating preliminary activities, local stakeholders under the banner of the Talsara Bidhan Sabha Vikash Manch (TBSVM) have intensified pressure to shift the project about 10 km downstream on the Ib river to Telijore in Balishankara block. The TBSVM argues that locating the dam at Telijore would significantly minimise displacement.
The dam proposal at Katnidihi was originally conceptualised following a preliminary survey in the 1980s and later received in-principle approval in 2003-04. Since then, it has faced strong resistance as it is projected to irrigate about 1.06 lakh ha of cultivable command area but would fully submerge at least 10 villages and partially affect 20 others in Subdega and Balishankara blocks.
Reliable sources in the Ib Investigation Division of the Water Resources (WR) department said that after the project failed to take off at Katnidihi due to protests by villagers and public representatives, an alternative site at Telijore was proposed in 2015-16.
Incidentally, the Katnidihi proposal gained fresh momentum after Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in March 2025 directed officials to expedite the Ib irrigation dam project along with four other dam proposals in Odisha. Earlier, in September 2024, the TBSVM had sent a petition to the chief minister to locate the dam at Telijore. Following this, the superintendent engineer of Ib Investigation Division submitted a status report in December.
While superintendent engineer Damodar Deuria declined to comment, sources in the WR department said the division had initiated land demarcation activities at the Katnidihi site about three months ago. The exercise initially faced strong protests from villagers.
Sources said that in the absence of precise information about surveys conducted in the 1980s, the current demarcation exercise aims to assess the likely displacement impact and irrigation potential if the project is implemented at Katnidihi.
They added that ensuring assured water availability for irrigation and industrial use is imperative. In case public protests continue, authorities may consider constructing separate barrages across the Ib river at Katnidihi and Telijore instead of a full-fledged dam.
Officials further noted that since the Ib river flows into Sundargarh from Chhattisgarh and the Telijore site lies near the inter-state border, it could involve inter-state river issues. In contrast, the Katnidihi site is located away from the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border and does not involve any such complications.
TBSVM chief coordinator and BJP state ST Morcha secretary Dhruba Kalo said a delegation of the organisation met Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in January requesting that the dam be located at Telijore. He said the chief minister assured them that their concerns would be addressed.
Sundargarh BJD MLA Jogesh Singh said the project location should be finalised in consultation with the local population. He added that affected families must be properly compensated and rehabilitated.