Rasulpur: In addition to 138-year-old barrage built during the British reign, the Jajpur district administration has plans to construct a second one on the Kharasrota river at Jokadia under Rasulpur block for effective management of rain water.
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A proposal in this regard was placed by Water Resources department recently. It has got the approval of the Odisha government. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will provide a fund of Rs 250 crore for the purpose. After completion, the barrage will feed in rain water to irrigation canals connecting the Kharasrota river at Jodakia and the Budha river at Rudhia round the year, Jaraka irrigation department officials informed.
Worthy to note, Dharmasala MLA Pranab Kumar Balabantaray, Korei MLA Ashok Kumar Bal, Jajpur Irrigation department executive engineer Dhaneswar Samal, deputy executive engineer Kamadev Das and several other senior officials had earlier visited the proposed barrage site and taken stock of available infrastructure.
The existing barrage which is more than a 100 years old is losing its capacity slowly. Hence it is important to have a second barrage said assistant engineer Subash Sahu. He also said that since the second one will be built with modern technology, it will have better storage capacity.
The proposed barrage will help in utilising rain water for irrigation and other purposes, rather than allowing flowing down into river. It will irrigate hundreds acre of farmlands of villages under Korei, Rasulpur and Dharmasal blocks in the district, Sahu added.
PNN
