Centre nod to long-pending Bihar irrigation project

Within weeks of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar joining NDA ranks, the Centre on Wednesday gave its nod for the completion of the long-pending North Koel reservoir project to irrigate farms across four districts in Bihar and Jharkhand.
 
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also decided to restrict the storage of water in the dam at a lower level than approved earlier to avoid submergence of the Betla National Park and the Palamau Tiger Reserve.
 
Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said approval was granted to complete the balance works at an estimated expenditure of Rs 1622.27 crore to be incurred during the three financial years from the start of the project.
 
The work on the project, located in the most backward districts of Palamau and Garhwa of Jharkhand, has been at a standstill since 1993 following objections by the Forest Department of Bihar.
 
The decision comes weeks after the ruling JD(U) dumped the Grand Alliance comprising RJD and Congress to join the BJP-led NDA spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The stalled project will now be executed on a turnkey basis by a central PSU under the watchful gaze of the NITI Ayog CEO.
 
The also approved raising Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR) to the tune of Rs 9,020 crore for Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF) for the year 2018-19 through the issuance of bonds by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
 
As per a release, LTIF seeks to make loans from the NABARD attractive for states at the rate of 6% per annum in order to complete 99 ongoing prioritised irrigation projects under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) which “were languishing mainly due to inadequate provision of funds”.