BHUBANESWAR: With only 16 per cent of cultivable area of Nabarangpur district having irrigation facility, the State Government on Wednesday set an ambitious target to create additional irrigation potential of 21 per cent during next four years.
The Government decided to bring 39,286 hectares (ha) of cultivable land under assured irrigation by 2018-19 with an investment of Rs 343.88 crore.
Of 10 blocks of the district, only four - Chandahandi, Nabarangpur, Nandahandi and Umerkote - have irrigation potential of 35 per cent of the cultivable land. This is despite the fact that the State Government had planned to cover at least 35 per cent of the agricultural land under assured irrigation by 2010.
As per the district statistics, only 29,823 ha of total cultivable area of 1,85,824 ha are covered under assured irrigation. Farmers take up only single crop over an area of 1,47,132 ha due to lack of irrigation facility.
The irrigation scene of the district was reviewed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a high level meeting here.
It was decided to set up 275 lift irrigation points, 4199 bore-wells, 11 medium irrigation projects, 640 micro irrigation projects, four mega lift irrigation points and 111 check dams in the district to achieve the target.
The Water Resources Department told the meeting that plans are afoot to supply water from river Indravati through a 300 metre long tunnel which will irrigate about 15,000 ha of land in three blocks. The project will cost Rs 243 crore and drawing and design of the project is under consideration of the Central Water Commission.
While irrigation was provided to 1.33 lakh ha during 2014-15, a target has been fixed to create irrigation potential for 2.08 lakh ha during 2015-16.
Of the target fixed for 2015-16, 10,000 ha will be irrigated through big and medium projects while 35,000 ha will be provided irrigation through mega lift irrigation projects. Small and micro projects will provide irrigation to 1.63 lakh ha. Official sources said Rs 6857 crore will be spent for implementation of these projects during 2015-16.
The State Government plans to set up 1.25 lakh deep bore-wells, 5000 micro lift irrigation projects, 6000 community lift irrigation projects, 156 small irrigation projects, 175 medium irrigations projects and 14 mega irrigation projects to reach the target.