Odisha to implement Rs 1,100cr ground water recharge project

The Odisha government today signed an agreement for implementing a ground water recharge project partly funded by South Korea-based Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The project aims to recharge ground water at a massive scale at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore, said chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The agreement was signed between Odisha's Water Resources Department and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) where Patnaik was also present.

The GCF assistance will be routed through NABARD.

Patnaik said the GCF is giving an assistance of about Rs 240 crore while the state government will arrange the remaining amount through convergence of funding.

Apart from renovation and improvement of 10,000 tanks, the project envisages providing recharge shafts to recharge at least 1,65,000 acre feet of water to the aquifers development of 1,000 deep bore wells with solar pumping based micro irrigation and capacity building of farmers.

The project will be implemented in five years.

Anticipating that the prevailing climate change will have an adverse impact on water resources, the state government had sought financial assistance from the GCF.

The project will be implemented in 15 of the state's 30 districts, official sources said.

The districts where the project will be implemented are: Bargarh, Bolangir, Boudh, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nuapada, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sonepur.