Rs 800-cr Bihar irrigation canal collapses hours before inauguration by Nitish

A section of an Rs 800-crore irrigation project in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district collapsed on Tuesday evening and inundated local roads and neighbourhoods, hours before it was to be inaugurated by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Officials said nearly 20 feet of the wall of the main canal of the Bateswar Ganga Pump Nahar Yojana (BGPNY) breached during a trial and water gushed through, flooding a portion of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) township nearby.

The water receded from most areas on Wednesday morning but ankle-deep water was still seen at a half-kilometre stretch of a nearby road.

“The breach had been plugged and work is in progress to strengthen the wall of the canal where the breach was caused,” said Arun Kumar, chief engineer (civil), water resources department. Nitish’s visit to the area was cancelled.

Local residents in Bihar’s Kahalgaon struggle through water gushing from a breached canal. (HT Photo)

The project was ready for inauguration in May-June this year but the event had to be cancelled because of technical difficulties, sources said.

Sources said action was taken against several water resource department officials but wasn’t confirmed officially. The local MLA, Sadanand Singh of the Congress, alleged “gross negligence of concerned officials” led to the incident.

The BGPNY had been conceived nearly forty years ago to boost agriculture in Bhagalpur and adjoining Jharkhand, utilising the water of the Ganga. Officials said the latest breach was likely to further delay the project, whose costs had spiraled from Rs 13.77 crore to Rs 828 crore. The project would serve 27,603 hectares of land, 22,716 of which would be in Bihar.

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