Odisha govt removes land hurdles for Rengali right canal

BHUBANESWAR:  Acquisition of forest land posing a major problem for construction of right canal of Rengali irrigation project, the State government on Saturday directed the Forest and Environment department to hand over the diverted forest land to the user agencies of Water Resource department within a week. A high level meeting chaired by Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain here discussed the handing over 261.181 hectare (ha) of forest land in the first phase.

The divisional forest officers (DFOs) of Cuttack, Athagarh and Dhenkanal districts were asked to take necessary measures for handing over the forest land within a week in consultation with the district collectors. As the Ministry of Environment and Forest has given Stage-II clearance to the State government’s proposal for diversion of about 875 ha of forest land, the Minister asked the Waster Resources department to submit required papers before the Forest department in this regard.

It was further decided to complete the survey of forest land measuring 251.198 ha for clearance and handing over to the project implementing agency in the second phase. Chief Engineer of Rengali right canal and DFOs concerned were asked to complete the survey by April 12. The meeting was informed that the Dhenkanal DFO after a field visit has submitted a report to the Forest department on April 7 for handing over 7.52 ha of forest land from Kapilas wildlife sanctuary to Water Resources department.

On completion of the project, it would irrigate 84,407 ha of land in Angul, Dhenkanal, Cuttack and Jajpur districts. The Special Secretary of Forest department assured that the process of handing over of forest land will be complete within next 10 days. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Chief Engineer of Rengali right canal, special land acquisition officer, Dhenkanal and DFOs of Cuttack, Athagarh and Dhenkanal and executive engineers of the canal projects participated in the virtual discussion.