Bhadrak: Construction of the much-awaited Kochila barrage across Kochila river, a distributary river of the Baitarani river, in this district will be taken up soon at a cost of Rs 359.28 crore, according to Engineer-in-Chief, Water Resource department, Jyotirmaya Rath.
Rath informed that the tender process for the project will be started soon.
According to a source, a high-level meeting was held at Secha Sadan in Bhubaneswar recently to review plans for flood mitigation in the Baitarani river and its distributary Kochila river.
Bhadrak MP Majulata Mandal, ex-MLA of Dhamnagar Muktikanta Mandal, Engineer-in-Chief, Water Resource department, Jyotirmaya Rath and executive engineer of Jajpur Irrigation department discussed the proposed barrage across Kochila river, repair and strengthening of river embankments and early resurrection of drainages.
Notably, ex-MLA of Dhamnagar Mandal had started the initiative for the construction of the barrage. He had taken committees of Odisha Legislative Assembly on field visits on several occasions and raised the issue in the Assembly as well.
Besides him, MP Manjulata Mandal also wrote a personal letter (Letter No-411/MP) to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik requesting his intervention for the early construction of the proposed barrage.
Once the barrage is constructed, it will not only put an end to Dhamnagar’s flood problem but also irrigate farmlands.
After coming to know about the proposed barrage construction, Dhamnagar residents expressed their gratitude to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das, MP Mandal, Jajpur MLA Pranab Prakash Das and ex-MLA Mandal.
PNN
