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Irrigation project over Mahendratanaya opposed

Bhubaneswar: Opposing the move by Andhra Pradesh to construct an off-shore irrigation project on river Mahendratanaya, Orissa Government has asked the former to immediately stop the work until a consensus was reached between the two states, official sources said .

In a letter to the Secretary of Irrigation and Common Area Development Department in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa’s Water Resources Secretary said the proposed off-shore irrigation project would adversely affect domestic water supply and lift irrigation systems in the State.

Orissa Government’s formal objection to Andhra Pradesh’s proposed irrigation project came in the wake of large- scale agitation in Gajapati district.

Even two MLAs from the district on March 12 staged a sit-in the assembly premises opposing it.

Sources said the Andhra Pradesh Government had already engaged a construction company for building the reservoir at the downstream of Mahendratanaya river at a cost of Rs. 127 crore. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy is scheduled to lay foundation stone of the project on March 22, they said.

In its letter, the Orissa Government pointed out that the River Mahendratanaya originates from Mahendragiri hills, a reserved forest in Gajapati district. “The river flows for a length of 26 km in Orissa and enters into Andhra Pradesh, then it becomes the common boundary of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh before it entering into Andhra Pradesh and joins the Vamsadhara river at Gulumuru village,” the letter said.

Disparity

The Orissa Government apprehends that the flow of river Mahendratanaya would be diverted to a channel through the proposed off-shore sluice on the left bank of the river on Andhra Pradesh side. “Since the difference in the off-take level and the corresponding sill level was only 0.355 meters, Andhra Pradesh may have a total control over the river water,” sources fear, adding that sand cast might occur on right side of the river on its side. - PTI

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