Madhya Pradesh to develop water storage capacity through Restoration policy

Bhopal: Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that water storage capacity can be used for irrigation, drinking water and industrial purposes under the Restoration Policy. He said that distribution of the obtained silt to the farmers, would be helpful in the production of crops by increasing the fertility of the fields. The restored water storage capacity will increase the life span of the dams. The operation of dredger and hydro cyclone unit, will provide employment opportunities as well as generate about Rs 200 crore for the government from the sale of sand.

Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan was reviewing the restoration policy for developing water storage capacity of reservoirs under NVDA and Water Resources and today. Departmental officers including Chief Secretary Shri Iqbal Singh Bains were present in the meeting.

It was informed that in order to develop the water storage capacity of the reservoirs in the state, the reservoirs will be deepened under the restoration policy. In the first phase of the scheme, the Ban Sagar Project at Shahdol, the Tawa Project at Hoshangabad, the Rani Avanti Bai Sagar Project at Jabalpur and the Indira Sagar Project at Khandwa will be deepened.

Filling capacity decreased due to silt and soil

It was informed in the meeting that the total storage capacity of the above 4 mega projects of the state has decreased by 1280 million cubic meters out of 24 thousand 590 million cubic meters. Due to silt and sand, there was a reduction of 300 million cubic meters in Rani Avanti Bai Sagar Project in 1988, 250 million cubic meters in Tawa Project, 550 million cubic meters in Indira Sagar Project and 180 million cubic meters in Ban Sagar Project.

Under the restoration policy, the silt and sand obtained by removing the silt from the reservoir will be separated. In this, 15-40 percent sand content has been estimated in the silt. The tender period for desilting the reservoirs has been fixed at 15 years. Depending on the quality of work of the contractor, this period can be extended for 5 years. An increase of 8 percent per annum will be payable on the tendered rates.

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