Odisha is treating its rivers less like seasonal visitors and more like reservoirs that can be held, used and recharged. That was the message from a high-level review on Thursday, when Principal Secretary, Water Resources, Shubha Sharma, pressed officials to finish the last stretch of preparatory work on five Instream Storage Structure (ISS) projects and keep a statewide target of more than 30 foundation stone ceremonies by the end of 2026.
The meeting, attended by senior officers of the department, examined progress on ISS projects approved in four phases. The five schemes under the scanner — ISS Kansapal, ISS Kadodara, ISS Sungarah, ISS Bharatpur and ISS Phulbari — have moved into the final stage of groundwork needed before foundation stones can be laid. Sharma directed that the remaining clearances, site readiness and procedural steps be closed quickly so construction can begin without drift.
Instream Storage Structures are weir-like works built across river channels to hold monsoon flow in the stream itself. The idea is simple and high-impact: more water in the lean season for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and livestock; better groundwater recharge; and less of the old pattern of flood-and-then-scarcity. The department has already completed nine such structures in recent years and is expanding the network as part of a larger water-security push.
Thursday’s review was not a ceremonial stock-take. Officials walked through the status of each of the five sites and the department’s wider 2026 goal — foundation laying for more than 30 ISS projects before 31 December. That target is meant to convert paper approvals into visible starts across basins, so storage capacity actually rises instead of remaining a line in a plan.
Sarma’s emphasis was on speed with accountability: finish the last preparatory tasks, keep district and field teams aligned, and treat foundation laying as the beginning of work, not the end of a file. If the calendar holds, Odisha will close 2026 with a denser map of in-stream storages — structures designed to keep river water in the state after the rains have gone.
Odisha Water Resources Principal Secy Fast-Tracks Kanpur, Suktel Projects Before Monsoon Hits
