Cuttack, April 4: The Cuttack stretch of Taladanda, Odisha’s longest canal, which starts at Jobra and links the Mahanadi to the Bay of Bengal in Paradip, has been dropped from the Rs 98-crore Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project because of encroachments along it.
The 11.78-km stretch of the canal from Jobra to Biribati has been dropped from the project because of the presence of structures along the banks at some places and cases related to them pending in court.
The project envisaged restoring the entire 83-km Taladanda to something similar to the irrigation canal it used to be more than a century ago. However, the ADB guidelines don’t allow funding when encroachments get into the scenario.
But officials of the water resources department said restoration work on the canal between Jobra and Biribati, which is full of silt and has broken banks from decades of neglect, will be carried out with funding from the state government.
“A Rs 50-crore plan has already been prepared for work on the canal bed and fortification of eroded banks with sidewalls. This will restore the 11.78-km stretch to its original look and make it function again as an irrigation canal. The plan will be submitted to the government for approval,” Mahanadi (south division) irrigation executive engineer Subrat Das told The Telegraph yesterday.
“The plan includes three bridges over the Taladanda canal aimed to address traffic problems in Cuttack city,” Das said.
While one bridge has been planned to connect the road on the western boundary of SCB Medical College Hospital in Ranihat with Jobra on the other side of the canal, another has been planned near Matrubhaban to connect with OMP Square.
The third bridge has been planned at Matagajpur to connect it to the Cuttack-Paradip road near the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) at Bidyadharpur.
Parts of the Taladanda canal were dug up in 1862 by the East India Company to use it for irrigation and as a waterway. The work was taken over by the British government that completed it in 1869. Later in 1964, the Odisha government did some extension work at Atharbanki near Paradip.
Restoration work on the Taladanda canal started over a year ago with a long-term loan availed from ADB for the Odisha Integrated Irrigated Agriculture and Water Management Project.
But the 10-km stretch on the tail end of the canal was dropped as the government had allowed drawing of water for industrial purposes at several locations. ADB guidelines refused funding for restoration of stretches of the canal where water was being used for purposes other than irrigation.
“There was no option because there has been increasing need for industries near Paradip. So, a Rs 15-crore plan has already been drawn up to undertake the restoration work on the 10-km stretch with state government funds to increase the water carrying capacity at the tail end,” a water resources department official said on the condition of anonymity.
The official said the state government was already earning an annual revenue of Rs 20 crore by providing water from the canal at the tail end.
The ADB-funded project assumes significance as Taladanda canal was designed to be a source of water for irrigation to six blocks of Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts – Sadar Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Raghunathpur, Balikuda, Tirtol and Ersama.
The project, officials said, has a livelihood component under which the pani panchayats (water users’ associations) are being strengthened. It aims to involve the maximum number of self-help groups to partner water management for increasing agricultural production and productivity in Odisha.
The farmers are being imparted training on water management for effective use of irrigated water, officials said.
