Konar Irrigation Project completed after 41 years

Giridih: Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Wednesday will inaugurate the ambitious Konar Irrigation Project which took the water resources department 41 years to complete. In a function to be held in Bishnugarh the Chief Minister will via online mode inaugurate the project.

It was in the year 1978 that the than Governor of Bihar Jaggananth Kaushal had laid the foundation for the project but due to the negligence of the department and lack of interest of the contractors the project got delayed and ultimately the cost of the project which was estimated to be Rs 12 crore in the 41 years rose 208 times to Rs 2500 crore.

The Konar irrigation project will provide water for irrigation in 85 villages spread across Giridih, Hazaribagh and Bokaro districts. In the year 2003 it was Chief Minister Arjun Munda who had laid the foundation stone for canal construction work however the contractor executing the project that time left it in the middle and ran away.

In the year 2012 once again tender was issued for the project which was bagged by a Mumbai based company which managed to complete the project. An official said that the total length of the canal is 404.17 kilometers and after its inauguration from August 29 onwards on a regular basis 800 cusec water will be released while overall target is to release 1700 cusec of water.

The project will provide water to 20 villages of Bishnugarh block of Hazaribagh, 31 villages of Dumri Block and 31 villages of Bagodar block of Giridih district and three villages of Nawadih block of Bokaro district.