Mahanadi flow into Hirakud reducing

BHUBANESWAR: The flow of Mahanadi river water into Hirakud dam project has gone down considerably in recent years due to construction of barrages and dams at the upper end of the river by Chhattisgarh government.

This was admitted by Minister of State for Water Resources Raghunandan Das while replying to a question from Congress leader Tara Prasad Bahinipati in the Assembly on Thursday.

The Minister said that while flow of water during the non-monsoon period decreased by 30 per cent in 2019-20, in 2018-19, the flow into the dam came down by 57 per cent.

The flow of water into the dam during the non-monsoon period in 2016-17 and 2017-18 was 65 per cent and 61 per cent respectively, he said.

The Minister said reduced flow of water into the Hirakud dam has affected power generation and other uses of Mahanadi water.

In a written reply to a question from Nauri Nayak (BJP), the Minister said reduced flow of water in rivers emerging from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and entering Odisha is not expected to give rise drought in the State.  

Replying to a question from Mohan Majhi (BJP), the Minister said the government has completed seven major and medium irrigation projects, 119 mega lift irrigation projects, 82 minor irrigation projects and 15795 embankments since 2009-10 to store Mahanadi water. 

The Minister said the government has already prepared a blue print keeping in view the requirement of water for different sectors for the next 50 years.

Rs 533 crore released for Khurda-Balangir rail line

Odisha government has provided Rs 533 crore for construction of Khurda-Balangir railway line project. Informing this in the Assembly while replying to a question from Santosh Singh Saluja (Congress), Commerce and Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera said the funds released by the State government have been used for land acquisition as well as construction activities.

The Minister said so far, the Centre has paid Rs 174. 15 crore to the State revenue authorities for land acquisition purposes.

He said the Centre and the State government have so far provided Rs 707.74 crore for the project out of which Rs 384.9 crore has been spent on land acquisition.