Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment Prakash Javedkar today landed in Latehar and announced that the 40-year old irrigation project-North Koel Reservoir Project(Kutku Dam)is set to begin functioning soon.
“Almost all work related with the launch of the project is over”,said Javedkar in Latehar today.This means that the water of the dam in the making will start meeting the farmers’ need in Palamau in Jharkhand and Aurangabad in Bihar.
This inter-State irrigation project,initiated in 1974 with an aim to irrigate large parts of Maoist infested Palamau and its neighbouring Aurangabad district of Bihar,has already incurred a whopping amount of Rs 800 crore without producing and supply any water.
However,officials claimed that almost 99 percent of the civil work of the dam is complete.The housing colony,project school and water of the water resource department are there though their structure is in dilapidated state due to lack of maintenance.”Now,we have to set up the hydro electric project and installation of a sluice gate”,said a senior officer of the water resource department of Jharkhand.
Incidentally,Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked about this project during the Lok sabha campaign on March 27 last year raising a question about the lethargy of successive governments of Bihar and Jharkhand in making this dam functional for farmers of Palamau in Jharkhand and Aurangabad in Bihar.
