Bhubaneswar: For rejuvenation of River Mahanadi, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE).
And the DPR has been shared with the Government of Odisha for implementation with Multi-Departmental Participation.
The program interventions include tree plantation, soil and moisture conservation works in the catchment area and river front development to increase green cover and carbon sink, reduce silt load & flooding and enhance ground water recharge etc., besides generating employment.
With such program, 1460 Square Kilometres (SQ.KM) areas of River Mahanadi will be covered.
In fact the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change has released the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) prepared by Indian Council of Forestry, Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun for Rejuvenation of 13 Major Rivers namely Mahanadi, Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, Jhelum, Luni, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Narmada, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery through Forestry interventions.
The total financial requirement to the interventions proposed in these thirteen DPRs for five years is Rs. 19,342.62 crore under 4 major components.
Those components include implementation of Forestry Interventions, Strengthening Knowledge Management and National Capacity Development, Maintenance Phase including Scaling Up and Replication of Successful Models, and National Coordination for Forestry Interventions and River Conservation.
The DPRs have been shared with concerned State Governments for implementation with multi-departmental participation.
The Department of Forest, Environment and Climate Change together with concerned Departments namely Agricultural & Horticulture Department, Urban Municipal Bodies, Department of Rural Development are envisaged to implement the DPRs.
For implementation of the program funding will be made available under various Central and State Government schemes.
Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha has mentioned this here today.