The State Cabinet on Saturday approved tenders of the Upper Indravati lift Canal System project and Mega lift Project Cluster-III to be executed on Ong river, Bheden River and Hirakud reservoir in the State. The lift Canal System of the upper Indravati irrigation project contemplates to provide annual irrigation to an area of 43,047 ha in the command area of 26,248 ha in chronically drought prone backward Kalahandi district.
According to Chief Secretary GC Pati, Rs757.8 crore would be spent for the project which would be taken up under the Mega lift Scheme of the State Government. The tender has been awarded to the l&T Company. A Chief Engineer post would be created for development of command area, he added. Similarly, the Cabinet also okayed tender for the Mega lift Project Cluster-III to be executed on Ong river, Bheden river and Hirakud reservoir in the districts of Balangir, Bargarh, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur district. The tender has been awarded to the same l&T Company at the lowest bidding price of Rs514.89 crore.
Water Resources Department Secretary Pradeep Jena said the State Government has planned to take up 174 numbers of lift Irrigation (lI) schemes each having command area between 500 hectares and 2000 hectares. These schemes have been grouped in fifteen clusters in 22 districts of the State to create additional irrigation potential of about 2, 14, 270 hectares, he added.
He also informed that two clusters (No XIV and XV) consisting of 28 schemes are under construction since August 2013 in the scheduled districts of Kalahandi, Balangir, Subarnapur and Boudh. The instant tender was invited for execution of cluster (No III) having 19 schemes covering command area 24,020 hectares in the districts of Bargarh, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda, he added.
Besides, the meeting approved setting up a corpus fund of Rs100 crore for Markfed and Agro Industries Corporation to distribute fertilizers to farmers in the State. Out of the total corpus fund, Rs75 crore would be spent for the Markfed, while Rs25 crore would be spent for the Agro Industries Corporation, official sources said.