The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal to complete the remaining works of long pending North Koel Reservoir Project in Jharkhand and Bihar at an estimated expenditure of Rs 1622.27 crore. The funds would be utilized during three financial years from the start of the project.
According to the decision, the storage of water in dam will be restricted at lower level than envisaged earlier to reduce the submergence and to protect Betla National Park and Palamu Tiger Reserve.
Chatra MP Sunil Kumar Singh has been passionately pursuing the project, launched way back in 1972 and later abandoned in 1990s, to be revived, said that this was a landmark decision of the government which is set to open doors of development for people of water starved areas of Jharkhand and Bihar.
“The decision shows the strong resolve of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to restart stalled projects for the most backward areas of the country. It will not only be beneficial for the people of Grahwa, Palamu and latehar districts in Jharkhand for irrigational purposes but will also solve drinking water problems of lakhs of people,” he said.
The MP said that the decision has been taken keeping in view the eco diversity of the area and once the reservoir is erected animals of the Palamu Tiger Reserve and Betla National Park will have sufficient water even during the lean period. The project will have multi dimensional benefits both for people and ecology, he added.
The project aims to provide irrigation to estimated 111,521 hectares of land annually in the most backward and drought prone areas of Palamu and Garhwa districts in Jharkhand and Aurangabad and Gaya districts in Bihar. The unfinished project as on date is providing irrigation to 71,720 hectares and completion of this project will provide additional irrigation benefit to the extent of 39,801 hectares.
The major components of project include 67.86 metre high and 343.33 metre long concrete dam called Mandal dam originally intended to store 1160 million cubic metre (MCM) water; 819.6 m long barrage at Mohammadganj, 96 km downstream of the dam; and two canals originating from left and right banks of Mohammadganj Barrage with distributaries system for irrigation. With the new lowered elevation level (El) of 341 metre, the Mandal dam will now have storage of 190 MCM.
The project is situated on North Koel river which is a tributary of Sone river finally joining the river Ganga. The North Koel Reservoir is located in the tribal areas in Palamu and Garhwa districts of Jharkhand State. The construction was originally started in the year 1972 and continued till 1993 when it was stopped by the Forest Department, of the then Bihar government. Since then, the work on dam is at a standstill.
The total cost of the project as assessed on date is Rs 2391.36 crore. An expenditure amounting to Rs 769.09 crore has been incurred on the project. The Cabinet has approved the proposal for completing the remaining North-Koel reservoir project at an estimated cost of Rs 1622.27 crore during three financial years, out of which the common components amounting to Rs 1013.11 crore of balance works would be funded by the Central Government as a grant from PMKSY Fund.
The Central government will also fund 60 per cent of the cost of balance works amounting to Rs 365.5 crore (Bihar Rs 318.64 crore and Jharkhand Rs 46.86 crore) from long Term Irrigation Fund (lTIF) under PMKSY as grant from the States of Bihar and Jharkhand. The States of Bihar and Jharkhand will arrange 40 per cent of remaining cost of balance works amounting to Rs 243.66 crore (Bihar 212.43 crore and Jharkhand 31.23 crore) as loan from lTIF through NABARD.
The execution of the project will be monitored by an Empowered Committee of Government of India headed by CEO NITI Aayog.