Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday inaugurate the Rs 9,800 crore Saryu Nahar irrigation project that interlinks five rivers in Uttar Pradesh, bringing to an end a 40-year wait for the farmers of the region.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office, PM Modi will visit Balrampur in UP tomorrow to inaugurate the project that was “delayed by 40 years and has now been completed in four years.”
Work on the project started in 1978 but due to lack of continued budgetary support, interdepartmental coordination and adequate monitoring, it got delayed and was not completed even after nearly four decades.
The Prime Minister then prioritised the inordinately delayed project in 2016 by bringing it under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with the target to complete it in a time bound manner. Land acquisition was expedited and the digging of new canals speeded up to complete the project in four years.
The Saryu Nahar National Project has been built with a total cost of more than Rs 9,800 crore, out of which more than Rs 4,600 crore was provided for in the last four years, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office.
The project also involves interlinking of five rivers – Ghaghara, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohini to ensure optimum usage of water resources of the region.
“The project will provide assured water for irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land and benefit about 29 lakh farmers of over 6200 villages,” the statement added.
It will benefit nine districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh namely – Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj.
The farmers of the region, who were the worst sufferers of the inordinate delay in the project, will now immensely benefit from the upgraded irrigation potential. They will now be able to grow crops on a larger scale and maximise the agri-potential of the region, the PMO statement said.
