Accusing Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of trying to mislead the people of Mayurbhanj district about the Subarnarekha Irrigation Project, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Sunday said it would oppose his proposed visit to the district on July 17.
Patnaik's scheduled visit to inaugurate release of water from the Subarnarekha Irrigation Project is nothing but a ploy to mislead the people of Mayurbhanj, JMM State president and former MP Sudam Marandi told reporters here.
He alleged that a paucity of funds has hit the project, which was started three decades ago to create irrigation potential for 1.10 lakh hectares of farmland in the district. The main canal for the ambitious project is far from completion, but the Chief Minister surprisingly plans to dedicate it by releasing water, he said. About a 5-km length of the main canal in three stretches is nonexistent and construction on it is yet to begin, Marandi added.
Patnaik, who also heads the Water Resources Department, is on his way to inaugurate the incomplete project without reviewing the actual progress of the works, Marandi said. Initially budgeted at Rs 300 crore, the project cost at present has zoomed to over Rs 4,500 crore, he pointed out.
A total of Rs 3,200 crore has already been spent on the project funded by the World Bank, Government of India, Government of Odisha, NABARD and AIBP, Marandi further informed.