Bhubaneswar: The Mohan Majhi government in Odisha has decided to undertake restoration work at the Hirakud dam at the confluence of the Mahanadi and Ib rivers. A sum of Rs 855 crore will be spent over the next four years to renovate the dilapidated canal system of the dam.
It is worth mentioning here that the Mahanadi River was dammed at Hirakud about 15 km upstream of Sambalpur town, making it India’s first post-independence major multi-purpose river valley project. It is the longest earthen dam in the country and was built in 1957 to control floods in the delta area, besides for power generation and irrigation.
The canal irrigation system that began in 1967, irrigates 1.59 lakh hectares land in Kharif season and 1.12 lakh hectares in Rabi season over 3,406 km of canal network in the districts of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Bolangir and Sonepur. Water from the dam reaches the farmlands through a maze of main canals, distributaries, minors and sub-minors and it often takes 10-15 days for the canal water to reach the tail-end.
The Hirakud canal network led to a rise in cropping intensity in the command area from 110 to 187% during the last 60 years.
