Canal breach ahead of opening

Patna/Bhagalpur, Sept 20

The Bihar Government today ordered a probe into the breach of a canal in Bhagalpur, which led to the cancellation of its inauguration today by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and a barrage of criticism from RJD and JD-U rebel Sharad Yadav.

Kumar was scheduled to inaugurate the Rs 389.31-crore Bateshwarsthan Ganga Pump Canal Project, aimed at providing irrigation facilities in the state and neighbouring Jharkhand.

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The wall gave way after being forcefully hit by the Ganga waters when the pump was switched on for a trial run. Gushing waters entered Kahalgaon, 3 km from the site, and inundated areas in an NTPC township.

“A probe by Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, has been ordered,” Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan said. On his part, Principal Secretary Arun Kumar Singh admitted the “department’s fault” in not checking the canal before its inauguration. The project would be inaugurated “after two months” during which the deficiencies would be addressed, he said.

Meanwhile, Water Minister Lallan said “it has come to light that the NTPC had constructed an underpass below the canal”, which could have weakened the canal. NTPC Kahalgaon Executive Director Rakesh Samuel, however, said the underpass was constructed long ago. “The NTPC does not do any work without obtaining an NOC.”

The minister said the canal was built during 1985-88 and the government just did the mechanical part by constructing the pump station in the past one year to lift Ganga waters for irrigation. “But officials should have checked the canal,” he added.

The collapse invited harsh comments by RJD leaders, who said it was constructed with “poor quality” material.

“Earlier rodents caused a breach in embankments to trigger floods in Bihar. Did crocodiles break the canal wall?” RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said. — PTI