Post News Network
New Delhi, August 20: The state government’s ambitious Jeera Irrigation Project (JIP) got a new lease of life as the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has asked the state government to immediately submit the terms of reference (TOR) for seeking extension of the project.
The JIP, a medium irrigation project with a culturable command area (CCA) of 4,800 hectare, will provide irrigation to 4,320 ha of land in kharif and 1,520 ha in rabi seasons on its completion. This would help improve the socio-economic condition of the people in Bargarh district (bordering Chhattisgarh).
In 2013, the state government had informed the MoEF that Chhattisgarh is within 10 km of the proposed project area following which the project was considered by EAC as per EIA notification of 2006.
In a recently held meeting, the EAC observed that the validity of the TOR for the project has expired and public hearing was held on the expiry of the validity of the TOR. Therefore, EAC advised the water resources department of Orissa to submit an application seeking extension of the validity of TOR so as to enable reconsideration of the proposal by the EAC. Due to non-submission of the application, the ministry has closed the file in February, 2015.
The EAC observed state government submitted a compliance report instead of seeking validation of the TOR. The EAC noted that under the extant rules validity of TOR can still be extended.
