Thanking the Prime Minister, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said the project would be completed in about 30 months. (File)
The North Koel Reservoir irrigation project, work on which had started in 1972, is likely to reach completion with the Union Cabinet allocating Rs 1,622 crore for the purpose.
Districts like Palamu and Garhwa in Jharkhand and Gaya and Aurangabad in Bihar will benefit from the project. The Cabinet cleared the project on Wednesday. The allocated amount will be utilised over three years. Thanking the Prime Minister, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said the project would be completed in about 30 months.
The breakthrough, officials said, came with the concerned agencies agreeing to reduce the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) from a proposed 367 metres to 341 metres in order to save large swathes of the Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR) from submergence. This had been the stumbling block for the project since 1993. The project will now have a decreased irrigation potential (IP), while the power generation component has been done away with.
“The problem with the earlier proposal of having FRL of 367 metres was that it would have led to submergence of nearly 6,000 ha of PTR, including its core areas. It is a protected area and the first tiger reserve in the country. So the forest department had objected and the matter remained unresolved since then. Now, it has been decided that the FRL will be 341 metres. This will lead to submergence of only 1,000 ha of PTR — that too in non-core areas. The number of villages affected due to submergence will come down from 13 to eight,” said Divisional Forest Officer (Koel Division) and Deputy Director of PTR Anil Kumar Mishra.
The Cabinet clearance was given after the matter was cleared at all levels — including the Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Environment and Forest, added the official. The basic infrastructure for the project is in place. The Mangal dam, in Latehar district, has already been constructed with a height of 67.86 metres and width of 343.33 metres. A barrage in Mohammadganj, 100 km downstream in Hussainabad block of Palamu district, on the same river has also been constructed.
“The gates at Mandal Dam were not installed. Now we won’t need it because of the lowered FRL. We will use the irrigation slippages, already existing at the lower levels, to regulate the flow. The barrage is ready at Mohammadganj, but we will construct distributaries to take the water to interior villages,” said Ashok Kumar, Chief Engineer (Jharkhand Water Resources Department).
Palamu and Garhwa, which have traditionally faced problems of less rain, are likely to benefit from the project. The compensation and rehabilitation packages — in the form of cash payment, plots or money to purchase land etc — for the project have been completed in phases, said officials. Sources said that the affected people in 15 villages continue to live there. They will have to be requested to leave for the project to become functional.
The North Koel river is a tributary of Sone, which, in turn, is a tributary of the Ganga. Originating near Ranchi, it meets Sone in Haidernagar block of Palamu, travelling a distance of 260 km. It is a rain-fed river.
