'No sluice gate in 22 years, Mandal dam lying non-functional'

1993-built Mandal Dam in the state could not be made functional even after after 22 years of its construction as its sluice gate was not set up.
"I have witnessed many surprises but not like this (Mandal Dam). It was completed in 1993 but could not be made functional for 22 years because the sluice was not set up," Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said here.
The minister, who inspected the dam, said he would initiate action and made the Mandal Dam functional soon.
A sluice is a water channel controlled at its head by a gate.
Ever since the majority government came to power in Delhi, it was made aware of about 40 such dams, which were completed but remained non-functional in various parts of the country including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, he said.

Claiming that only a BJP-led government could lead Bihar and Jharkhand on the path of development, Javadekar accused Congress of not having the intention to see development of Bihar.

In fact, no government had ever made any effort to complete the dam, hampering the development of the state, he alleged.
Mandal Dam was remained incomplete due to absence of sluice gates, which needed the clearances of the forest department.
Following its completion, the dam will irrigate altogether 1.25 lakh hectares of land in Bihar and Jharkhand.
While it would irrigate 12,500 hectares land in Jharkhand, the remaining land would be in Bihar.

Besides, there had been a plan to set up a 19 MW hydel power project on it when the project was being implemented in 1970, Chatra MP Sunil Singh said.
"With the advanced present day technology, we may be able to produce 100 MW power from it," he said.