Odisha to revive defunct lift irrigation projects

Bhubaneswar: With the met office predicting scanty rainfall during the Monsoon season, Odisha government today decided to launch a scheme to revive the defunct Lift Irrigation projects estimated to be Rs 522 crore.

"The state government have decided to launch a new state plan scheme 'Revival of Defunct Lift Irrigation projects' with an outlay of Rs 521.85 crore," Chief Secretary G C Pati said after a proposal in this regard was approved at the cabinet meeting presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The amount would be spent for revival of 3,773 defunct lift irrigation projects within a period of five years, Pati said.

Stating that revival of the lift irrigation projects is a priority area of the state government, the Chief Secretary said there are an estimated 6,916 defunct lift irrigation projects in the state.

Out of 6,916 projects, Pati said, 1,469 LI projects are permanently defunct and cannot be revived due to drying up of water sources, urbanisation, change of river course and other factors.

"A comprehensive strategy has been worked out for revival of 5,447 lift irrigation projects," Pati said.