Indus Valley Times

By Prasanna Mohanty
Bhubaneswar, May 18: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday asked the officials to prepare a comprehensive river policy for the state within the next three months.
He also announced that Rs 75,000 crore will be spent by the state government within five years for water resources development department.
Mr Patnaik said barrages would be constructed on the Mahanadi at several places to store water to be utilised for drinking and agricultural purposes.
The CM, however, made no mention where the barrages will be located but said the barrages would come up at places having less displacement possibilities.
Mr Patnaik also made two major announcements on projects launched several months ago.
He said, there would be concrete lining of Bargarh and Sasan Main canals estimated to cost around Rs 400 crore.
Stating that these two projects would be completed within three years, he said the Gangadhar Meher Megalift Canal System will also be completed within the same time.
On Monday, the state government had announced a project to construct seven barrages across Mahanadi as a counter to Chhattisgarh which has already completed several dams on the upstream choking water flow.
However, the announcement by the state Government had come in for sharp criticism from the opposition political parties as their locations were yet to be identified.
Problems faced during the launch of such projects have also been completely ignored.
Besides, the Government has also announced that it is preparing a master plan to construct seven barrages in the downstream of Mahanadi river and 22 barrages on tributaries and distributaries of Mahanadi.