Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated 59 mega lift projects in 13 districts of the state under the Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation project. About 80,000 hectares of dry land have been provided with irrigation facilities for Rs 2.05 crores.
Along with this, the Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone for 33 mega lift projects. After the completion of all these projects, 50,000 hectares of land in 9 districts could be irrigated.
Participating in the program through video conferencing, the Chief Minister said that he is meeting the farmers at his house every day and discussing various issues with them. The Chief Minister expressed his happiness by expressing the fact that the farmer brothers are availing various schemes of the government.
Highlighting the various schemes implemented by the state government for the farmers, the Chief Minister said that the state government’s agriculture budget has tripled in 5 years and has now reached Rs 25,000 crore. He said that KALIA Yojana has proved to be very beneficial for the farmers. The state government has spent Rs 600 crore on crop insurance premiums for farmers. Similarly, interest-free loans up to Rs. 1 lakh are also provided.
Highlighting the development of irrigation in the state, the Chief Minister said that the irrigation development program has been accelerated under the 5T initiative. Farmers are getting irrigation facilities from major projects like Upper Indravati, Lower Indravati, Deo and Subarnarekha. Apart from this, other big projects like the Gangadhar Meher Project and Lower Suktel are also going to be operational soon, he said. Stating that 20 in-stream storage structure projects are being done by the state government for the convenience of getting water in the rivers, the Chief Minister said that these projects will enrich the agricultural sector of the state and increase the income of the farmers.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister launched the e-megalift App developed by OCAC.
Notably, the Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Project started in the state in 2011. So far 208 projects have been completed and 2,64,330 hectares of agricultural land have been irrigated. Similarly, 170 projects have been taken up in the second phase for providing irrigation facilities to 1,13,540 hectares of land.
State Water Resources Minister Tukuni Sahu attended the program and said that today will be a memorable day for the water resources department and our state. Through video conferencing, Banki MLA Debi Ranjan Tripathy and Ghasipura MLA Badri Narayan Patra joined the program and said that due to the implementation of this project, the farmers of their area will be greatly benefited.
Dr Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, senior officials of the Water Resources department, Collectors of various districts and farmers were present.
Anu Garg, Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary of the Water Resources Department, delivered the welcome address and the Engineer-in-Chief of the Water Resources Department gave the vote of thanks.
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