Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has launched a Rs 763.5 crore project to build 198.81 km long cyclone resilient saline embankment in four coastal districts of the state.
The Water Resources department on Saturday issued a notification on launching of Rs 763.5 crore ‘Cyclone Resilient Saline Embankment Project’ to be implemented in the coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Puri. A proposal in this regard had earlier received approval of the state cabinet in August.
The state government has decided to fund the project from its own resources, a senior official said.
The official said that cyclone Fani in 2019, cyclone Amphan in 2020 and cyclone Yaas in 2021 have caused a lot of economic loss to the state as saline water entered into a large agricultural areas and villages.
The scheme will be executed during the period from financial year 2022-23 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs 763.5 crore, the notification said, adding that the objective of the project is to raise and strengthen the saline embankments to sustain the impact of severe cyclones in order to protect the adjacent landmass and habitation from flood, saline ingress and tidal surge of Bay of Bengal in the four coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Puri.
The project will benefit a population of 2.92 lakh people in 136 coastal villages of four districts.
The project will also help to withstand cyclonic storms of higher magnitude such as high wind speed and sea storm surges, mitigate floods by keeping flood waters within channel boundary, and protect public infrastructures like school, hospital, anganwadi centre, utilities like electricity and road communication from extreme storm during cyclone.
The proposed saline embankments would also protect nearby habitation, agricultural land from saline ingress. It will also help in early restoration of all forms of economic activities in the region after the cyclonic event.
The state has made structural intervention in the form of saline embankments to the tune of 1,636 km in the coastal districts. However, the saline embankments of 156.17 km length have already been strengthened as per National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP). Out of the remaining 1,479.83 km of saline embankments, a length of 416.01 km is vulnerable. Out of 416.01 km, 198.81 km is weak and extremely vulnerable, the notification said.
Now, the state government has planned for raising and strengthening of 36 saline embankments measuring total length of 198.81 km to cyclone resilient standard to sustain the impact of very severe cyclone with speeds up to 250 km/hour and to protect the adjacent landmass and habitation from floods, saline ingress and tidal surge of Bay of Bengal in Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Puri.
According to sources, upon completion of the projects, about 21,690 hectares of agricultural land will be protected from flood and saline ingress and 2,92,500 people in 136 villages in the above districts will be benefitted.
Due to raising and strengthening of embankments, road communication, scope for fishing and eco-tourism will be improved, the official said.
The Water Resources Department has planned to make an expenditure of Rs 290.60 crore during the current year while Rs 305.96 crore has been provisioned for 2023-24, Rs 166.92 crore for 2024-25 and Rs 763.48 crore for 2025-26, the notification said.
PTI
