The Odisha government has decided to renovate the canal system of the 76-year-old Hirakud reservoir system at a cost of ₹ 855 crore.

The renovation of the canal system of the Hirakud Dam project will be completed within four years. It’s one of the first major multipurpose river valley projects started after India’s Independence.

The Hirakud dam, over Mahanadi-river in Sambalpur, is an engineering marvel — one of the biggest earthen dam. It has a rich history. Lakhs of farmers of western Odisha, depend on the water for the irrigation of their lands through its canal systems.

Reputed engineers like M. Visvesvaraya planned the dam. Later, two other experts — Dr AN Khosla and MST Iyengar —had endorsed it. Both were legendary engineers and Hirakud dam was built.

On March 15, 1946, Sir Hawthorne Lewis, the governor of Odisha, laid the foundation stone of the Hirakud dam. A project report was submitted to the government in June 1947. Former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the first batch of concrete on April 12, 1948. Its catchment area is 83,000 square kilometres.

Over the years, the canal has become dilapidated and is no longer useful for farmers. Farmers at the tail ends are facing it to tough get water to irrigate their land.

This became a major election issue during the last Assembly election in Western Odisha. The BJP had promised to come up with a solution so that people at the tail ends would get water.

After 76 years of existence, it is now facing a lot of crisis for its survival. Lakhs of farmers depend on it to do their agricultural activities. Odisha’s power production also depends on it.

Considering the importance of the project, the state government has decided to go for the renovation of the canal system.

As per the water resources department, the project will focus on revamping the Bargarh main canal and Sasan main canal of Hirakud which are currently in a dilapidated state.

Various distributaries will also be repaired to make them functional again. All water courses in the canal system created on an earthen base will be transformed into concrete paths ensuring proper water distribution and management of water so that the water will reach to tail end of the canal.