Plans to construct anicut on Mahanadi

In a bid to boost tourism and conservation of water, the Sambalpur district administration has asked the authorities to prepare a propsal for constructing a new anicut on river Mahanadi, which passes through the city.

The district administration has already urged the irrigation department to prepare the proposal for the project for which around Rs 100 crore would be required, Sambalpur Collector, Samarth Verma said.

Verma said he has also apprised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik about the project during his visit to the district recently.

The chief minister has evinced interest in the proposal, an official said.

Anicut is a dam made in a stream for maintaining and regulating irrigation.

An anicut already exists on the river Mahanadi near Hatpara in the city. The anicut was constructed in the mid 60's by the irrigation department, to store the river water for the use of the people of the city.

While the length of the existing anicut is around 1.7 kilometres, its height from the riverbed is around 2 metres.

Verma said the Mahanadi flows along the Ring Road in the city which has been widened. Riverside beautification works are also going on now, he said.

"Because of the presence of a patch of dry land beyond the existing anicut, the beautification work will lose its charm and hence we have planned to construct a new anicut in the downstream of the existing anicut,"he sid.

The height of the new anicut from the riverbed will be more than the height of the existing one so that water could be stored in a larger area in Mahanadi, he said adding the district administration plans to develop it as a tourism site.

The reservoir, to be built after the construction of the new anicut, could cater to the drinking water need of the growing population.