Palamau: Just before the Lok Sabha election, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the Mandal Dam Project on the North Koel River. It was one of the six irrigation projects in Jharkhand, which PM Modi has announced. The Mandal Dam Project would be boon for The Koel River originates on the Ranchi plateau in Jharkhand and joins with the Sone River, which is some miles north-west to the Haidernagar of Palamau district. The river meanders through the northern part of Betla National Park. The principal tributaries of the North Koel River are Auranga and the Amanat.
PM Modi had pointed out that the North Koel (Mandal Dam) project which remained incomplete for nearly 47 years. And, this amounts to criminal negligence towards the farmers of this area. Reiterating his commitment to make an honest effort to solve the problems faced by farmers, he asserted that 99 others big irrigation projects, including this - which have been stalled for decades, are now being fast tracked, at a cost of almost 90,000 crore rupees. PM Modi had further said that the Union Government is working firmly with the vision of treating farmers as "Annadaata." He went on to say that the government is working with a new vision for agriculture and farmers, by trying to fundamentally solve problems associated with agriculture.
Picture taken from actual site of Mangal Dam
The history of Mandal Dam has not been encouraging since the construction of the Mandal Dam began in 1972 and continued till 1993. Later it was stalled over the concerns raised by the forest department of state Bihar, as the state Jharkhand was not established then. The experts were feared that it could threaten to submerge the portions of the Palamau Tiger Reserve and Betla National Park. Now, the central government has approved for the diversion of the forest under the Palamau tiger for the construction of Mandal Dam with some conditions.
Mandal dam originally intended to store 1160 million cubic metre (MCM) water; 819.6 m long barrage at Mohammadganj, 96 km downstream of the dam; and two canals originating from left and right banks of Mohammadganj Barrage with distributaries system for irrigation. With the new lowered elevation level (EL) of 341 metre, the Mandal dam will now have storage of 190 MCM.
The features are cited regarding the Mandal Dam Project are; It will help around lakhs of hectares agriculture land for both states, Jharkhand and Bihar to get irrigated facilities, production of 24MW of electricity from it, water to be utilised of drinking, as the region is facing massive drinking water shortage, etc. The project is scheduled to be completed within 30 months at the estimated cost of Rs 2,391.36 crore Mandal dam that will provide irrigation to 19,604 hectare in Palamau, Chatra and Garhwa districts of Jharkhand state. Out of 60 percent funds have to be released by the central government under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) as a long term irrigation fund (LTIF).
The debate started after, JP Nada, working president of the BJP arrived at Palamau, and lauded efforts made by the government as to Mandal Dam, he says “I was told that the construction of Mandal Dam is on full swing, which was on stayed for nearly four decades. It was the local MP and CM Raghuvar Das, who made tremendous efforts to reconstruct and make it operational”.
BJP working president and Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das have exuded confidence over winning more than 65 seats in the Assembly elections in the state that are scheduled to take place this year."The state government and the organisation of the BJP are moving forward rapidly and the people will bless them with 65-plus seats,". He also said that the "double-engine" - hinting towards the BJP governments at Centre and the state - was providing the much-needed growth to the state and appreciated the initiative undertaken by Das in implementing various schemes.
Reacting on the same, the Jharkhand Ex minister, Krishna Nand Tripathi said that nothing has been done after PM Modi laid the foundation stone early this year. Expressing disappointment, 'the minister said that the BJP is playing politics on the name development. Since assembly is election is approaching, and the date is likely to be announced in few months. The 80 percent works have already been finished during congress's regime, the minister added. Now, the BJP is trying to fool the people for gaining the political mileage.
File Photo; Ex Minister KN Tripathi
It was KN Tripathi, who was detained along with his hundreds of supporters by the local police in January this year, when PM Modi had arrived Palamau for laying the foundation for the revival of works. Tripathi had launched the 'Pad-Yatra' from (Mandal to Chiyanki) in order to support the protestors, who wanted the government to provide the adequate compensation of the families to be displaced from it – the protestors were also demanding that first water should be supplied to its region only, and then rest can be allowed to go wherever it wants. “We are not against foundation laying but we want irrigation water to be used by farmers of Palamu region first. We will not allow even a single drop flow to other state if adequate water is not ensured for the arid fields of Palamu that has witnessed persistent droughts since long,” he added.
