Nitish Kumar Shamed: Rs 389 Crore Dam in Bihar Collapses 24 Hours Before Inauguration
- A Rs 389.31 crore dam project collapsed during a trial run, 24 hours before its inauguration on Wednesday in Bihar
- The wall of the canal collapsed when water from the Ganga forcefully hit it after the pump was switched on for trial run at Bateshwarsthan in Bhagalpur district
- RJD workers burnt an effigy of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Bhagalpur alleging corruption in construction of the project
FollowIn Bihar, tax payers’ money flowed down the waters when a Rs 389.31 crore dam project collapsed during a trial run, 24 hours before its inauguration on Wednesday, September 20.
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Wall of Dam Gateshwar Panth Canal worth Rs 389.31 crore, in #Bihar in Bhagalpur collapsed just 24 hours before its inauguration. Pathetic! pic.twitter.com/BH6fLffEfm
— saileashkumar (@saileash) September 20, 2017
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was scheduled to inaugurate the canal scheme, aimed at providing irrigation facilities in the state and neighbouring Jharkhand.
The wall of the canal collapsed when water from the Ganga forcefully hit it after the pump was switched on for trial run at Bateshwarsthan in Bhagalpur district.
The water gushed into Kahalgaon and inundated areas in NTPC township as well some civil areas including residence of Kahalgaon civil judge and sub-judge.
"The proposed programme of the Chief Minister at Bhagalpur today has been cancelled due to technical reasons," an official statement said in Patna yesterday.
Advertisements were yesterday put out in newspapers about the inauguration of the project by the CM in the presence of Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan and local Congress MLA Sadanand Singh.
Principal Secretary of Water Resources department Arun Kumar Singh along with Bhagalpur DM and SP are on the spot to supervise measures for draining out water from NTPC township and some civil areas of Kahalgaon, around 3 km from the project site.
Under it 18,620 hectares of land in Bhagalpur would get irrigation facility while 4038 hectares of areas in Godda district of Jharkhand would be irrigated.
The Rs 389.31 crore project has a total irrigation capacity of 27603 hectares out of which 22816 is in Bihar and 4887 hectares in Jharkhand.
Planning Commission had originally approved the project in 1977 at an estimated cost of Rs 13.88 crore. The first administrative approval to the project was provided in 2008 involving a cost of Rs 389.31 crore.
RJD workers burnt an effigy of Kumar and Lallan in Bhagalpur alleging corruption in construction of the project.
(With inputs from PTI)
