Bihar awaits Centre's nod to interlink four rivers in the state

The water resources department of Bihar government is just two steps away from executing an ambitious river interlinking plan in the state.

The department says it has submitted detailed project report (DPR) of interlinking of four rivers flowing through the state to the Central Water Commission for final clearance.

Once CWC clears the project report, it would be tabled before the 13th Planning Commission for financing.

The ambitious project will interlink four rivers—Burhi Gandak, None, Baya and Ganga. The state government says linking of the four rivers will reduce devastation caused by floods in Begusarai, Samastipur and Khagaria districts. It is also projected to increase crop yield from 126,000 hectares of agricultural land.

The state government claims that floods result in a loss of around Rs 204.73 crore every year in these three districts.

According to the DPR, a sum of Rs 4,214 crore is needed for construction of channels, embankments and other infrastructure for linking the four
rivers.

The DPR focuses on channeling flood water flowing from the rivers from Nepal on Bihar border. A 71 km-long channel would be constructed to divert 492 cusec (cubic feet per second) of flood water of Burhi Gandak through a channel separately to the None and the Baya rivers and from there into the Ganges. The report claims that this would control floods to a large extent in the three districts.

Water resources minister Vijay Choudhary said that this would be country’s first river linking plan that would be executed with a focus to control floods.

The National Water Development Authority (NWDA) under the water resources ministry has prepared the DPR for interlinking of rivers for Bihar government.

NWDA is also preparing DPR of four more river interlinking projects in Bihar. These are:

• Kohra-Chandrawat Link. Pre-feasibility report preparation in process and the estimated cost is Rs 168.89. Project will benefit East and West Champaran districts
• Preliminary project report of Bagmati-Budhi Gandak via Belbadhar at an estimated cost of 125.96 crores has been prepared. It will benefit Sheohar, Sitamarhi and Muzzafarpur districts
• Preliminary project report of Kosi Ganga link for construction of 10 km channel is being prepared for Khagaria and Bhagalpur districts
• Preliminary project report for transfer of water of Kosi basin through Kosi Mechi link canal is being prepared. Total project cost is Rs 88.93 crore

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