Bhubaneswar, July 27: The state government today came to the rescue of farmers of drought affected areas and announced setting up mega-lift irrigation points on both sides of the upcoming Sindol hydro power projects.

Early this week, the Orissa Hydro Power Corporation Limited (OHPC) had inked an MoU with the National Hydro Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) to set up 320MW hydro-power projects. Around Rs 2,600 crore will be invested in the hydro-power project. The project envisages a generation capacity of 1090 MU (million units) having an installed capacity of 320MW. These projects are likely to come up by 2016.

However, the local people have opposed the project stating most of the areas would be submerged. But state energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak dispelled the fears and said there would be no submergence. The water used in Sindol project could also be utilised for irrigation purposes.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said these mega lift irrigation projects would irrigate the agricultural lands of the Sambalpur, Sonepur and Boudh districts. Naveen made these announcements while chairing a review meeting of the lift irrigation projects.

The review revealed that more than 3.10 lakh hectares of agricultural lands have been irrigated through the 13,861 lift irrigation projects.

It was decided that 1,758 defunct lift irrigation points would be made functional. Naveen also asked the power distribution companies to immediately restore power to the defunct lift irrigation points. All the pending dues against the life irrigation points would be settled on the basis of one-time settlement.

Those pani panchayats (water user associations) who have performed well in the management of water would be rewarded.

Despite the arrival of monsoon, six districts — Boudh, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Sundergarh, Jharsuguda and Baragarh — have witnessed erratic and deficient rain in the recent weeks.