BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has sought cooperation from his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren for early completion of Ichha dam project for the benefit of farmers of both the states. The Chief Minister also requested Soren to ensure storage of water up to FRL (full reservoir level) in Chandil dam in the monsoon season for mitigation of flood in Odisha.
Subarnarekha irrigation project in Odisha will be able to utilise its full irrigation potential only after completion of Ichha dam by the Jharkhand government, Naveen said in a letter to Soren which was released on Saturday.
“I am happy to know that the government of Jharkhand has taken up Ichha dam construction work recently. The Odisha government will extend all cooperation for the construction and reimburse Odisha’s share of the cost of the dam in time,” he said.
Stating that Rs 1,026.91 crore has so far been paid to the Jharkhand government for the Ichha dam project works against the estimated share of Rs 1,208 crore of Odisha, the Chief Minister said that 36 villages in Odisha will be affected under Ichha dam reservoir submergence area at FRL 225 of metres.
Accordingly, land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation (R & R) work in Odisha portion have been taken up, he said. “As of now, 5196 acres of land (98 per cent) out of 5,283 acres has already been acquired.
Rehabilitation assistance has been paid to 1,268 out of the total 1,369 project affected persons,” he said and added that Chandil dam across river Subarnarekha has been completed since long, but water has been stored up to 181.50 m reservoir level during monsoon against FRL of 192 m due to R & R issues.
Naveen thanked Soren for extending cooperation in providing water to Subarnarekha Irrigation project of Odisha during kharif season. The Subarnarekha multipurpose project was taken up as a follow up action for utilisation of water resources of Subarnarekha-Kharkhai Basin as per the tripartite agreement made during 1978 among erstwhile Bihar (now Jharkhand), Odisha & West Bengal, he said.