The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has asked the Chhattisgarh Government to take up compensatory afforestation in 885 hectares of land with State Forest Department for the proposed construction of 147-metre-long barrage on Arpa river near Bhaisajhar village in Bilaspur district, officials stated.
In a circular to State Water Resources Department, the Ministry directed : ‘ Biodiversity Conservation and Management Plan should also be implemented with the Forest Department.’
Allocated grant of Rs44.36 cr for the purpose shall be fully utilised and not diverted for any other purpose, it stated. Water User Associations and Water User Co-operatives should be formed and involvement of the whole community must be ensured for disciplined use of water.
A Fishery Conservation and Management Plan would be implemented in consultation with Fisheries Department. The submergence area of 653.59 hectares would be utilised for Pisciculture.
The Environment Management Plan shall be strictly adhered to and a sum of Rs392.72 crores—the budgetary provision for implementation of EMP shall be fully utilised, it stated.
After five years of commissioning of the project, a study shall be undertaken regarding impact of the project on the environment and downstream ecology.The study shall be taken up by an independent agency in siltation with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The project would provide irrigation facility in 25,000 hectares of land benefitting 102 villages in Bilaspur district.
The total land requirement for the project is 1890.09 hectares out of which 442.35 hectares is forest land, 377.35 hectares is government land and 1070.39 hectares is private land. The total submergence area is 653.59 hectares. The total catchment area upto the barrage site is 1693.86 square kilometres.
The Stage-I forest clearance was accorded on December 12,2014. The total cost of the project is 606.43 crores and is to be completed within three years.
The Expert Appraisal Committee of the Central government recommended grant of environmental clearance to the project.
The State Government in June last year had drawn up an ambitious Rs2,000 crore project plan to develop the Arpa river bank in Bilaspur district during the next seven years.
For this, government has constituted a ‘Special Area Development Authority’ (SADA) for the development of the Arpa river bank near Bilaspur city.
The Government has invited proposals from interested national and international institutions for the development of the river bank on a PPP model.
The Authority has prepared a project for the development of the river and is now in search of organisations that would be interested in developing the river on a Public Private Partnership (PPP).
According to SADA, about 653-hectare area on the banks of the river would be developed. This area is 13.4 km in length.
Commercial, residential, entertainment and other institutional facilities would be developed in this area. On both the sides of the river, 13.4-km-long retaining wall, houses and commercial complexes would be constructed, besides bridge, roads and walkways. Water supply, sewerage, drainage, electricity supply would be provided in the area.
The estimated cost of all the works is Rs2,000 crore. The development works would be taken up in phases during the next seven years.
Of the total 653-hectare area, some of the land is owned privately. In lieu of acquisition of private land, the affected people would be given land at other areas.
The Government has set the target to develop additional irrigation capacity of nearly four lakh hectares area in the next four years in the State.
From 12th to 19th phase of NABARD Scheme, total 29 projects have been completed to add up 19,748 hectares to irrigation capacity of the State.