Bhograi: The historic Orissa Coast Canal connecting the Ganges in Kolkata with Mahanadi in Cuttack has been wallowing in neglect as its much-needed renovation project has been pushed to the back-burner with neither the state nor the Centre taking any step in this direction.
Tagged with national heritage status, the canal is reminiscent of past maritime activities, but without the essential renovation, it is feared that the canal may die a slow death. Its suffocated condition has taken a toll on agriculture along its banks.
It was in 1866 when Orissa was severely hit by a great famine. The British government conceived the idea of digging a canal
from Kolkata (then Calcutta) to Cuttack so as to push food transport and irrigation.
It’s the work began in 1880 and was completed in 1885. The 214-km long canal was dug out through Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur and undivided Cuttack districts. Over the years, it boosted maritime activities along its course, leading to towns and industrial units coming up on both sides.
However, it lost its importance and usage in terms of trade and transport over the years while it continued to get bunged up with deposits of silt and wild growth of weeds, reeds, and hyacinth at different stretches from Nasarabad in Bhograi to Lock area for lack of maintenance.
Its choked flow and reduced depth affected irrigation in large swathes of farmland, dealing a heavy blow to farmers who depended on it.
In 1974-75, the government had drawn up a proposal for its renovation. Work was undertaken the same year mainly to facilitate irrigation. As many as 110 pump sets, fueled by windmills, had been set up along its banks. However, after working for a few years, the pump sets fell defunct, but no effort was made to make them operational, which is why agriculture had to suffer, locals said.
Agriculture experts and farmers observed that renovation of the canal bears much significance so far as irrigation of thousand acres of farmland and controlling floods from river Subarnarekha are concerned.
Besides, its renovation can drain out overflowing water from neighbouring West Bengal into the Bay of Bengal. Locals said the government can also consider improving the canal embankment as good communicable roads with large-scale plantation on both sides, which can push tourism to the area too. Besides, its waterway can been taped for cruising facility for tourists while a patch of 30 acres of government land at Bhograi Lock may be used to set up a deer park, the locals opined.
Most importantly, thousands of poor fishermen in these coastal pockets will have good opportunity to eke out their living.
The locals said the Central and state governments have many a time taken cognizance of these above-mentioned aspects of the canal and drawn up proposals, but they have not been executed in reality.
Earlier, former MLA Dr Kartik Chandra Patra, former MP Kharabel Swain and government chief whip Ananta Das had hinted about renovation of the canal, rekindling hopes for locals, but nothing concrete has been done in this direction as yet, it was learnt.
In 2015, `1.12 lakh was sanctioned for the project, but its work was mired in irregularities, said social activists Ananta Bhanj, Rajkumar Das and Sunil Kar. PNN