Introduction
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CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION 1.0 Background Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India in the year 2004 decided to undertake comprehensive assessment of feasibility of linking of the rivers of the country starting with southern rivers in a fully consultative manner and to explore the feasibility of intrastate river links of the country. Accordingly, proposal for inclusion of prefeasibility / feasibility studies of intrastate links aspect in NWDA's mandate was put up for consideration in Special General Meeting of NWDA Society held on June 28, 2006 and it was decided to incorporate this function in NWDA's mandate. Finally, MoWR vide Resolution dated November 30, 2006 modified the functions of NWDA Society to include preparation of prefeasibility/feasibility studies of intrastate links. The functions of NWDA were further modified vide MoWR Resolution dated May 19, 2011 to undertake the work of preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of intrastate links also by NWDA. Further, the Gazette notification of the enhanced mandate was issued on June 11, 2011. In the meantime, on the basis of approval conveyed by MoWR in June, 2005, NWDA requested all the State Governments to identify the intrastate link proposals in their States and send details to NWDA for their prefeasibility / feasibility studies. Bihar responded to NWDA's request vide letter No. PMC-5(IS)-01/2006-427, Patna dated May 15, 2008 and submitted their proposals. Subsequently, a meeting was held between the officers of Water Resource Department (WRD), Government of Bihar and NWDA on June 16, 2008 in Patna. In the said meeting, Government of Bihar requested NWDA to prepare the prefeasibility reports of six intrastate links out of which two were irrigation schemes. The Kosi-Mechi Link is one of them. Accordingly, NWDA directly took up the work of preparation of the DPR of the above link canal project. Further, in 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of NWDA held on March 31, 2012, Water Resources Minister, Government of Bihar requested NWDA to prepare the Preliminary 1 Project Report (PPR) of Kosi-Mechi link project on priority. After carrying out detailed topographical surveys and firming up the techno-economic viability of the project, NWDA has prepared PPR of Kosi-Mechi link project as per the CWC guidelines for submission, appraisal and clearance of irrigation and multipurpose projects-2010 and submitted to Government of Bihar and Central Water Commission (CWC) during October, 2012 for examination. The PPR of the project was duly examined by CWC and comments thereon received from CWC were discussed with the officers of WRD, Government of Bihar during meeting taken by Principal Secretary, Government of Bihar on January 16, 2013. 1.1 Proposal received from WRD, Government of Bihar The Government of Bihar vide letter dated 28.07.2008 proposed to extend existing EKMC beyond its tail end RD 41.30 km so that rivers Kosi and Mechi which flow through Bihar itself after crossing Indo-Nepal border, can be linked within Bihar State by taking off the link canal from existing Hanuman Nagar barrage and outfalling in river Mechi at suitable point while running the canal adjacent to Indo-Nepal border. It will provide irrigation in Araria and Kishanganj districts depending upon pondage available in Hanuman Nagar barrage. Though this intrastate link canal will not have any back-up storage scheme presently, it can be later supported by and linked with proposed Kosi High Dam which is likely to take concrete shape after joint surveys and investigations by Government of Nepal and India. Out of the total command area 4,45,000 ha of Mahananda river basin, the Kosi-Mechi link canal will irrigate the areas excluding CCA covered by other schemes falling under this river basin with irrigation of 75%, 95% and 80% of CCA for kharif, rabi and hot weather crops respectively. To augment flow in the link canal, barrage at its crossing points with rivers like Parman, Bakra, West Kankai, East Kankai and Mechi may also be considered as an integrated approach. This intrastate link scheme will thus transfer part of surplus water of Kosi basin to Mahananda basin. This link will have advantage of complete independent control of Bihar. 2 1.1.1 Aim and justification of the project The river Kosi is an international river originating from Tibet flowing through Tibet, Nepal in Himalayan Mountains and the lower portion through plains of North Bihar. To overcome the acute problem of shifting of course of Kosi river, heavy sediment load, flooding etc. and to alleviate the severe suffering of the people of Bihar, the then His Majesty’s Government of Nepal and The Government of India signed an agreement on 25th April 1954 for implementation of Kosi project. The Kosi project includes a barrage namely Hanuman Nagar across river Kosi located near Hanuman Nagar town close to Indo-Nepal border, canal headworks, Western Kosi Main Canal (WKMC) system in Nepal, Eastern Kosi Main Canal (EKMC) system in India. The present proposal is an extension of EKMC upto river Mechi, a tributary of river Mahananda. The aim of extension of EKMC upto Mechi river is mainly to provide irrigation benefits to the water scarce Mahananda basin command in the districts of Araria, Kishanganj, Purnea and Katihar during kharif season depending upon the pondage available in Hanuman Nagar barrage. Though this intrastate link canal will not have any back-up storage scheme at present, later it can be supported by and linked with proposed Kosi High Dam which is likely to take concrete shape after joint surveys and investigations of Kosi High Dam project by Government of Nepal and India. Out of the total command area 4.40 lakh ha of Mahananda river basin, the proposed Kosi-Mechi link canal will irrigate 2.15 lakh ha areas excluding CCA covered by other schemes falling under this river basin. This intrastate link scheme will thus transfer part of surplus water of Kosi basin to Mahananda basin. In view of irrigation benefit from the link canal, the project is fully justified. 1.2 Earlier studies 1.2.1 Prefeasibility Report (PFR) NWDA has prepared the prefeasibility study report (PFR) of Kosi- Mechi intrastate link project in 2009. It was proposed to utilize the existing EKMC upto its tail end RD 41.30 km after remodelling and its extension upto river Mechi for providing irrigation in new command areas lying between rivers Parman and Mechi in Mahanadi basin and further diversion of balance 3 surplus Kosi water into river Mechi for future utilization by Government of Bihar. The total length of the link canal including the length of the existing EKMC was 120.15 km. As per the PFR, the Kosi-Mechi Intrastate link project envisaged diversion of 12,582 MCM of Kosi water from existing Hanuman Nagar barrage to Mechi river. After meeting the requirements of existing EKMC, the link canal was proposed to provide 2265 MCM of water for irrigation in the new command areas. Provision of 14 MCM of water for domestic and industrial water needs for enroute village/towns were also made. Transmission losses in the canal were computed @ 0.6 cumec per square km wetted perimeter and estimated to be 73 MCM. After meeting all the enroute requirements 4148 MCM of water was proposed to be diverted into river Mechi for further utilization by Government of Bihar to supplement irrigation demand of Mahananda basin. The total cost of the link project was estimated as Rs. 4441.82 crore. The B.C ratio and IRR of the link canal project were assessed as 1.51 and 15.99% respectively. 1.3 Present studies at DPR stage To expedite the preparation of DPRs of intrastate river linking projects of Bihar, a meeting was held on January 18, 2010 between officers of WRD, Government of Bihar and NWDA. In the meeting, the Government of Bihar requested NWDA to prepare DPR of Kosi- Mechi link project as this scheme was found viable at the PFR stage. It was also decided that NWDA can go ahead with the preparation of DPR directly to save time instead of first preparing the feasibility report and then DPR. Accordingly, after carrying out detailed topographical surveys and firming up the techno-economic viability of the project NWDA directly took up the work of preparation of DPR of this link project. The observations of Government of Bihar on PFR of Kosi-Mechi link are given in Annexure 1.1. In 27th Annual General Meeting of NWDA held on March 31, 2012 Water Resources Minister, Government of Bihar requested NWDA to prepare the Preliminary Project Report (PPR) of Kosi-Mechi intrastate link project on 4 priority. Accordingly, after carrying out detailed topographical surveys and firming the techno-economic viability of the project up NWDA has prepared PPR following the CWC guidelines for submission, appraisal and clearance of irrigation and multipurpose projects, 2010 and submitted the same to Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar and CWC in October, 2012. The study was duly examined and comments of CWC were discussed with Government of Bihar and CWC officials during meeting convened by Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar held on January 16, 2013 at Patna. The replies of NWDA on comments of CWC on PPR are given in Annexure 1.2. Further comments of CWC on hydrology were also received and appended as Annexure 1.3. Some changes in the proposal of pre-feasibility stage have been made at Detailed Project Report stage due to following reasons: (i) There is an existing canal power house at RD 3.66 km of existing EKMC utilizing a fall of 3.96 m and having an installed capacity of 19.2 MW.