Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, August 27
Water from the mighty Ganga would flow to the sacred town of Gaya and the pilgrimage centre of Bodh Gaya.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that Ganga water would be lifted to Gaya and pilgrimage centre Bodh Gaya and the tenders for the first phase of the project had been floated.
Nitish was speaking at a programme organised by the Irrigation department to inaugurate 30 irrigation projects worth Rs 1400 crore. He said Ganga water would be lifted from Mokamah, 100 kms from Patna and would be diverted to Bodh Gaya via Nawada, Rajgir and Gaya towns.
The Chief Minister said though Rajgir, Bodh Gaya and Gaya had been the tourist centres, it had been reeling under serious water scarcity. Ponds in Rajgir had dried while the water level in Falgu river flowing in Bodh had depleted drastically.
International cricket stadium is cloning up at Rajgir in addition to an international Nalanda university and film centres. The state police training centre had been opened at Rajgir, Nitish said, adding that he hoped the water problem of the town would be solved soon.
Nitish informed that the land acquisition process for the beneficiary towns had been completed. It is proposed to lift Ganga water during monsoon season from Mokamah and uplift the reservoirs in the beneficiary towns.
Clearance of the forest and environment department has been obtained.
He told the officers and directed them to speed up completion of the project. Nitish plans to visit the sites on August 29 to review the progress.
Interestingly, Nitish, who is an engineering graduate, said planning and design of the Ganga uplift scheme was done by him as he was not satisfied with the designs prepared by the engineers of the Water resources department.
Nitish also said work for inter-linking of all rivers in Bihar would start soon.
In Madhya Pradesh, river Narmda had been linked to river Shipra at Ujjain.
Nitish said during monsoon, the flood waters of the small rivers drain into the Ganga and finally into the Bay of Bengal. The inter-linking of rivers in Bihar would help end drought conditions too.
The Chief Minister said 73 per cent of the geographical area of Bihar was in flood zone every year. This year, 16 districts had been in its grip.
