Odisha: State Government in no hurry to save Brahmani river

ROURKELA: The State Government has shown no urgency to initiate corrective measures to prevent Brahmani river from going dry at its origin point in Rourkela.Over the last few years, the water-holding pattern of Brahmani has undergone a drastic change with the river running full only during monsoons. From October, the water level of the river starts receding and by March-end, Brahmani’s bed dries up menacingly with water available only in a few small patches.   

The alarming situation has been attributed to various barrages and hydro power projects aggressively pursued by the Jharkhand Government on Brahmani’s tributaries Sankh and Koel rivers. Moreover, there has been a drastic change in rainfall pattern in Brahmani’s basin.Sankh and Koel enter Sundargarh district from north and east and meet at Vedvyas of Rourkela city to form Brahmani.

Sources in the Water Resources department admitted that the focus is on securing drinking water on a priority basis for Rourkela city while water for industries and agriculture has been pushed to the back burner.In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2017, Rourkela BJP MLA and former Union Minister Dilip Ray had sought his intervention to save Brahmani river and ensure water sharing pact between Odisha and Jharkhand.

Ray stated that a barrage on Sankh river in Gumla district was responsible for the depleting water holding capacity of Mandira dam of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP). He said a mega dam with a capacity to produce 710 MW of power and other barrage projects on Koel river are coming up in Jharkhand. If Brahmani becomes a dead river, it would spell disaster for agro-industrial economy and the environment of the river system across six Odisha districts, Ray stated. It is learnt that the Jharkhand Government has also taken up five projects on Sankh and Koel rivers to generate 83 MW of power. On the other hand, there has been no visible progress on the proposal for a barrage on Koel river though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid foundation stone for the project at Baikunth Ghat in July, 2013. The original low height barrage-cum-bridge proposal was twice modified and finally downgraded to a Pick Up Weir with the prime objective of storing drinking water.

Since 2016, the Water resources department is working on setting up three Mega Lift Irrigation (MLI) projects in Bonai sub-division of Sundargarh and 10 other MLI projects in adjacent Keonjhar and Deogarh districts on Brahmani. These MLI projects will fail if Brahmani river dies, the sources added.