Bargarh: Gangadhar Meher Lift Irrigation Project (GMLIP), Bijepur, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on yesterday, will bring smile on the faces of farmers of drought prone upland areas of Bijepur, Sohela and Barpali blocks of Bargarh district and Dunguripali block of Subarnapur district.
The massive project completed in a period of two and half years is really a wonderful achievement of Department of Water Resources, admit experts in the sector.
Thanks to the overdrive of 5T Chief Kartik Pandian, the Mega Project was completed in a time bound manner.
The mega irrigation project and one of the dream projects of the Chief Minister, was completed in just four years.
This was done due to continuous monitoring and effort made by Team Water Resources led by ACS Water Resources and Development Commissioner, Anu Garg.
The Government accorded administrative approval to the project on January 29, 2019. The foundation stone of the noble project was laid by the Chief Minister at Sohela on 21.02.2019, officials said.
The major part of the work like construction of pump houses, pipe laying, all electro –mechanical works, transmission line were completed in December-2023 & Trial irrigation to the ayacut is in progress.
The officials said this project is a pressurized underground pipeline system where water will be lifted from Hirakud Reservoir at RD 0.00 Km of Bargarh Main Canal (BMC) through pumping.
There are three numbers of pump Houses constructed in the system. The three pump houses are connected with dedicated from the Grid substation for uninterrupted power supply of 35 MWatt, they said.
About 85000 MT of Mild Steel and 15000 MT of ductile iron are used for the pipeline of the project.
This project aims at increasing the production and productivity of non–paddy crops like pulses, oil seeds, maize & cotton through participatory irrigation management with involvement of 61 of Pani Panchayats with 9 Distributary Committee & 1 Project Committee.
In addition to that, there is a provision to facilitate micro-irrigation to about 30% of CCA (7680 Ha) out of a total of 25600 Ha, which will be suitable to reap high valued cash crops like fruits, vegetables, etc.
The uniqueness of the project is ensuring the command area to get assured irrigation both in Rabi & Khariff season. No land acquisition & displacement of people. Each drop of water of the project is being utilized by adopting a commercial cropping pattern, the officials said.
Informing about challenges of the project, the officials said a number of road crossings in NH, SH & MDR/ODR have been executed through pushing for larger diameter of pipe & horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for smaller diameter of pipeline.
Besides, despite heavy rainfall & seepage in the nearby areas, the laying of pipe lines of larger diameter (3 mtr) crossing three major rivers is completed successfully in a short period.
On implementation of the project, 25600 Hectares of agricultural land will be irrigated both during Khariff & Rabi season where a total of about 35,600 farmers will be benefitted.
The net value of the agricultural produce before irrigation is Rs 8,929.91 lakhs, whereas the net value of agricultural produce after irrigation will be Rs 47,509.24 lakhs (Increased by 5.32 times).
On completion of this value aided project, the socio-economic conditions of the farmers in drought prone area will be improved to remarkable level, prevent migration of labourers from the locality, generate higher income for the farmers from same land mass, generate sustainable employment at rural level, reduce global warming by increasing the green cover by agriculture, forestry & gardening, recharge the groundwater table, maintain soil nutrition value and bring transformation in the areas.
