TNI Bureau:  Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote a letter to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemanta Soren seeking cooperation for early completion of Ichha Dam for benefit of farmers of both the States and storage of water up to Full Reservoir Level in Chandil dam in monsoon season for mitigation of flood in Odisha.

In a letter addressed to his Jharkhand counterpart, Naveen Patnaik wrote, “A sum of Rs 1026.91 crore has been paid to Government of Jharkhand for the above works till date against the estimated share cost of Odisha of Rs 1208 crore (2016 Price level). “Further, I am told that 36 villages of Odisha are affected under Ichha Dam reservoir sub-mergence area at FRL 225m. Accordingly, land acquisition and R&R work in Odisha portion have been taken up. As of now, 5196 ac of land (98%) out of 5283 ac has already been acquired. Rehabilitation assistance has been paid to 1268 Project Affected Persons (PAPs) out of total identified 1369 PAPs, which is about 93%”.

“Chandil Dam across river Subarnarekha has been completed since long but water has been stored up to RL 181.50 m during monsoon against Full Reservoir Level of 192 m due to R&R issues. As full storage capacity has not been utilized in the darn during monsoon season, we are facing flood havoc more often”, in a letter the CM wrote.