For rejuvenation of the river Mahanadi, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE).
And the DPR has been shared with the Government of Odisha for implementation with multi-departmental participation.
The programme interventions include tree plantation, soil and moisture conservation in the catchment area, river front development to increase green cover and carbon sink, silt load and flooding containment and enhancement of ground water recharge, besides generating employment.
With such a programme on cards, 1,460 Sqkm areas of the Mahanadi river will be covered. In fact, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released the DPRs prepared by the ICFRE, Dehradun for rejuvenation of 13 major rivers namely Mahanadi, Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum, Luni, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery through forestry interventions.
The total financial requirement to the interventions proposed in these thirteen DPRs for five years is Rs 19,342.62 crore under four major components, including implementation of forestry interventions, strengthening knowledge management and national capacity development, scaling up and replication of successful models and national coordination for forestry interventions and river conservation.
The DPRs have been shared with the concerned State Governments for implementation with multi-departmental participation. The Department of Forest, Environment and Climate Change together with departments namely Agriculture and Horticulture, Rural Development, besides ULBs are envisaged to implement the DPRs.
For implementation of the programme funding will be made available under various Central and State Government schemes.
This was informed by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.