Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday inspected Chandan Dam in Banka, around 270km southeast of Patna, and directed officials to restore its irrigation capacity with the help of technical experts, including those from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Patna and engineers from water resources and building construction departments.
"I saw the dam and was told about its irrigation capacity. The water resources department is working to restore it. A team of technical experts, including people from NIT-Patna and engineers from water resources department and building construction department will come here. There is a need to restore irrigation system of the dam," Nitish said.
He added that discussions have been on how to de-silt the dam and use silt for various purposes. Water resources minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, revenue and land reforms minister Ram Narayan Mandal, several legislators and senior government officials were present on the occasion.
Chandan Dam in Katoria circle of Banka has a capacity of 157 million cubic metres. It's brimming with water this summer despite a delayed monsoon because water for irrigation was not released during the last rabi crop season.
Water resources department engineer-in-chief (irrigation) Ram Pukar Ranjan said the capacity of the dam is decreasing because of heavy siltation and the chief minister suggested that after de-siltation work the silt should be either auctioned or given for free to those who could use it.
On water not being released during the last rabi season, Ranjan said it happened because of restoration work in the "high-level canal" of the dam, which was damaged in the 1995 floods.
He assured that water will be released from the dam during the forthcoming kharif season. Banka district magistrate Kundan Kumar gave a presentation on Unnayan Banka, a project for providing qualitative education to students. He also explained about Mera Vidyalaya mobile phone application to the chief minister, which could be used to study from any corner of the country.
