Bhubaneswar: Adding a golden chapter in the field of irrigation, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 52 projects worth Rs 3,037 crore in a single day on Saturday.
Six projects have been inaugurated in four districts with a cost of Rs 131 crore, while the foundation stones of 46 projects worth Rs 2906 crore have been laid in 15 districts.
Speaking on this occasion, the Chief Minister said that the welfare of farmers and development of agriculture has always been a priority for my government.
“I am meeting the farmers of different regions in Bhubaneswar every day. Our various welfare programs for the farmers are working very well,” the CM said.
He said that many small and major irrigation projects have been inaugurated in different regions of Odisha for the past few days. Along with this, the foundation stone for the new project is also being laid. All these projects are being accelerated with new technology under the 5T initiative.
The Chief Minister said that the problem of displacement has been eliminated due to irrigation through underground pipelines.
Among the most important projects inaugurated today is Kusumi Barrage in Nayagarh. The foundation stone of the underground pipeline system has been laid at a cost of Rs 148.17. This will provide irrigation to 9254 acres of land and will benefit 1.5 lakh people of 49 villages in three blocks. Along with this, the system of distribution of water of five small irrigation projects through underground pipelines has also been launched.
The foundation stone of Hadua Dam and its underground pipeline distribution system was also laid. With this, 8997 acres of agricultural land in 86 villages of Cuttack district will be irrigated, 293 villages will be supplied with drinking water and one megawatt of electricity will be produced.
The estimated cost of Hadua Dam and its underground pipeline distribution system is Rs 265.24 crore and Rs 195.89 crore respectively.
The Chief Minister also laid the foundation of three instream projects-Cuttack Dimiria-Routpada instream structure, Baideshwar-Gopinathpur instream Project and Nabarangpur Phatki Project along with 39 minor irrigation projects.
The CM said that interest-free loans of up to Rs 1 lakh, free crop insurance facilities, lifetime scholarships for farmers’ children and many other schemes are being implemented. He said that farmer families had been linked with schemes like Aam Odisha Nabin Odisha, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana and LAccMI.
5T & Nabin Odisha Chairman Kartik Pandian coordinated the programme.
Ministers Tukuni Sahu and Jagannath Saraka, and several MLAs attended the programme.