Bhubaneswar: With regular flood in Subarnarekha River causing serious concerns, government is pulling its socks to ensure effective management of water in the river. In this regard, a coordination meeting with the Jharkhand government has been scheduled to be held on August 7 to enhance the capacity of Chandili Dam and take stock of the construction of Iccha dam.
Moreover, the meeting will also focus on the irrigation project on Subarnarekha river. Notably, work on a canal emerging from the Chandili dam has only been completed upto 56 km inside Odisha. As a result, only 10,000 hectare farmlands are being irrigated.
The progess of various projects pertaining to Subarnarekha River will be discussed, said chief engineer of Subarnareka irrigation project Hemant Kumar Behera.
Notably, the Chandili Dam in Jharkhand has not reached the stipulated height of 192 meters. Moreover, Odisha gets no information about the amount of water received by the Chandili Dam and how much water is released from the dam. Furthermore, the dam on the Subarnarekha’s tributary Khadakhai is only 25 % complete. In Odisha, around 60 km of the river path of Subarnarekha is narrow and the new embankments have not been able to widen its path.
Another major concern is the Ichha dam which is being built on Subarnarekha at West Bengal’s Bhosraghat as the water from this dam will spill over to Odisha. Experts believe that Odisha government should hold discussions with the West Bengal government regarding its escape route.
“We have paid majority of the cost of construction of both the dams. However, we have to ensure Jharkhand completes Ichha dam and required steps are taken to maintain 192 meter water level in Chandili dam,” said Water Resources secretary PK Jena.