Other States - Madhya Pradesh   

Centre clears Pench project

Staff Correspondent

Will augment irrigation potential in two M.P. districts

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced in the State Assembly On Thursday that the Central Government has given clearance for the Rs. 583.4-crore Pench Diversion Scheme, which will help augment the irrigation potential in Chhindwara and Seoni districts as well as provide water for the proposed 500 MW Pench power project.

This is the first major project cleared by the Centre for Madhya Pradesh since 2000 and it would be an important milestone towards all-round development of the State, Mr. Chauhan said.

Mr. Chauhan told the House that the Planning Commission's Technical Advisory Committee had approved Rs. 184.03 crores for this project at its meeting held way back on October 25, 1988. This clearance came after the Central Water Commission (CWC) had studied and cleared all aspects of the project. Despite the Central clearance, work on this project was held up due to limited resources available with the State Government, the Chief Minister said, adding that renewed efforts were made by the State Government to start the project in 2004.

Mr Chauhan went on to inform the House that a proposal for investment clearance was sent to the Planning Commission in February 2004 for obtaining investment Clearance. The Union Government sought a second clearance from the CWC. The State followed this up by obtaining CWC's clearance for the project cost, rehabilitation and resettlement, barrage and canal construction machinery, environment and other related issues between 2003 and November 2005.

A high-level advisory committee of the Union Water Resources Ministry finally approved the Rs. 583.40-crore Pench Diversion Scheme on Wednesday.

Under this scheme, a dam is proposed to be constructed on the Pench river near Machagora village in Chhindwara district. Newarly 5600 hectares of land would be submerged once the dam is ready, the Chief Minister told the House, adding that no forestland would be submerged.

In all, 31 villages would come under submergence, eight of them completely, and the State Government has made adequate provisions for rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected families, Mr. Chauhan announced.

The project, once completed, would irrigate 30,364 hectares of land in 108 villages of Chhindwara district and 33413 hectare of land in 1,324 villages of Seoni district.

The project would also provide 61.68 million cubic meter of water annually for the proposed 500 MW Pench project. It would also supply 7.40 million cubic meter of drinking water in the command area and help in raising the ground water level and irrigating 7,141 hectares of land through tube-wells and dug-wells in the command area.

The Chief Minister thanked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for their support and cooperation. The target is to complete the project in eight years.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Centre clears Pench project

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu