Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet on Saturday approved a Rs 234.79 crore lift irrigation project under the Parbati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Scheme to expand irrigation coverage across Khordha and Puri districts, benefiting farmers in 92 villages.
The approved project involves the execution of five lift irrigation schemes under Cluster No. XXXIV with the objective of creating an additional irrigation potential over nearly 7,700 hectares. Water will be lifted from the Mahanadi and Daya rivers through an intake system and supplied to agricultural fields using a pressurised distribution network.
The Cabinet approved the lowest financial bid for execution of the project at Rs 234.79 crore, excluding GST. It also approved an operation and maintenance cost of Rs 21.81 crore, excluding GST, for a period of 15 years. The project is scheduled to be completed within 36 calendar months.
The initiative forms part of the State government’s Parbati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Scheme, which has an overall outlay of Rs 10,759.20 crore. The flagship programme aims to provide supplemental kharif irrigation to around 2.64 lakh hectares of upland agricultural land across Odisha by harnessing surplus water from rivers, reservoirs and canals that could not previously be irrigated through conventional gravity-based systems due to geographical constraints.
Upon completion, the project is expected to benefit farmers in 54 villages of Khurda district and 38 villages of Puri district. The government said the micro-irrigation-compatible system would encourage cultivators to diversify from water-intensive paddy cultivation to higher-value cash crops, while improving the socio-economic condition of upland farming communities.
