The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the formation of National Hydrology Project (NHP) to provide real-time flood forecasts as well as data to help farmers plan their cropping pattern. The project is worth Rs 3,680 crore.
For its part, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Rs 1,622-crore highway project in Karnataka under its flagship road-building programme NHDP. The total length of the road through Hospet and Bellary to Andhra Pradesh border will be approximately 95.37 km.
The creation of NHP is expected to boost India’s prestige in the field of scientific endeavour, the project with a total outlay of Rs 3,679.7 crore aims to cover the entire country as opposed to the earlier hydrology projects which covered only 13 States.
“The project will help in the development of real-time flood forecasting and reservoir operations in a manner that does not result in sudden opening of gates leading to the inundation of the areas below,” said an official statement.
“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval to development of the four-laning of the Hospet-Bellary-Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh border section of National Highway 63 in Karnataka,” said the Government statement.
“The cost is estimated to be Rs 1,621.96 crore, including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities,” it added.
The Government said about 3,88,728 man-days will be generated locally during the construction period of the highways, in line with the estimates that 4,076 mandays are required for building one kilometre of highways.
The main objective of the project is to expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Karnataka and also in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying on the Hospet-Bellary-Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh Border sector of NH-63.