By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 25 Oct: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the CCEA of the Union Cabinet for its approval to the Jamrani Dam project, which is very important for Uttarakhand. Chief Minister Dhami said that clearing the way for the construction of this dam project will solve the problem of drinking water and irrigation in Haldwani and surrounding areas.
Construction of Jamrani Dam (150.60 m height) is proposed on the Gaula River, 10 km upstream from Kathgodam in Nainital district. About 1,50,000 hectares of cultivable area will benefit from availability of irrigation facility from the project. Not only this, the project will also result in supply of 42 MCM drinking water to Haldwani city and surrounding areas annually and generation of 63 million units of hydro power.
It may be noted that under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (Major and Medium) the funding for the Jamrani Dam Project was given by the Screening Committee of the Ministry of Investment Approval and Jal Shakti during a meeting held in New Delhi today. After the above approvals, the proposal was sent by the Ministry of Jal Shakti to the Public Investment Board, Ministry of Finance, Government of India for financial approval. It may be recalled that the proposal had been agreed to in principle by the Finance Ministry in the month of March this year.
The final approval for transfer of 351.55 hectares of forest land affected by the Jamrani Dam Project to the Irrigation Department (Stage-2) had been given by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India in the month of January 2023, due to which the construction of the proposed dam can be started. The path will be easier and the proposed 300.5 acres land of Prag Farm for rehabilitation of project affected families has been passed in the Cabinet Meeting of the state government held on 18 May this year. Action is also underway to transfer the above proposed land to the Irrigation Department soon.
It is worth noting that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had been continuously pursuing the Centre for approval of Jamrani Dam during his meetings with the Prime Minister. Now that the scheme has been approved people can be expected to get relief from drinking water woes in Haldwani region and from irrigation problems in Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts.
The project, envisaged and submitted to the Centre for the first time when BC Khanduri was the CM of Uttarakhand had been stuck for a long time. However, CM Dhami’s persistent efforts bore fruit. Due to lack of funding, the construction of the project could not start since 1975, when it was announced for the first time during the time of undivided UP.
