‘High power panel to decide funding for Suktel project’

By Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: The Lower Suktel irrigation mission in Balangir district will not be going to be shelved by the Odisha authorities following the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) refusal to accord approval to it.However, the mission, languishing for greater than 20 years for a number of causes together with native protests, should wait until the Mahanadi River Water Disputes Tribunal offers its verdict.

Minister of State for Water Resources Raghunandan Das informed this paper that because the Lower Suktel is among the Mahanadi basin initiatives, it could actually go ahead solely after the Tribunal delivers its judgement.Stating that approval of the CWC is required for the mission, the Minister mentioned that after getting permission the High Power Committee (HPC) will meet to determine tips on how to fund the mission. He, nevertheless, made it clear that there is no such thing as a query of stopping the mission.

Meanwhile, due to the delay in mission work, price escalation has turn into one of many main worries for the federal government. While the price estimate of the mission was Rs 217.13 crore in 1996, it was revised to Rs 1,041.81 crore in 2010. The estimate has been additional revised to Rs 2,448 crore now. The survey for the Lower Suktel Major Irrigation Project was completed manner again in 1979. 

Sources mentioned that thus far the State authorities has spent round Rs 1,500 crore on the mission. Of this, 50 per cent has been spent on the dam whereas 45 per cent has been spent on the silos. Chief building engineer of the mission Niranjan Rout mentioned that the revised estimate might be put earlier than the federal government for its approval. 

Rout mentioned that the Suktel mission doesn’t have any inter-state dimension because the Tel river, of which Suktel is a tributary, merges with Mahanadi on the downstream of Hirakud dam. Besides, the Suktel river emerges from the Gandhamardhan hills. He, nevertheless, mentioned that the appraisal of the Mahanadi basin initiatives can’t be processed additional, till the finalisation of the water availability from the river to every co-basin state.   

Leader of the Congress Legislature Party and native MLA Narasingha Mishra mentioned work on the dam has already began. Now street work as much as the dam website is happening in order that heavy autos can attain the location, he mentioned and added that there is no such thing as a query of the dam work stopping.