CCEA clearance to Jamrani dam historic

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Irrigation Minister Satpal Maharaj has called the Centre’s clearance to the Jamrani dam project, stuck for nearly five decades, ‘historic’.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave clearance to the long awaited project on Saturday.

“The project has got clearance after hanging fire for nearly five decades and now work will start on it expeditiously,” Maharaj told reporters here on Sunday.

The project had been stuck since 1975 due to financing issues.

However, with the CCEA’s clearance, the Centre will bear 90 per cent of the total cost of the project while the beneficiary states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will meet five per cent each of the total expenditure.

The target is to complete the project by 2028 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,584 crore, Maharaj said.

The 150.60 metre high Jamrani dam is to be built over the Gaula river in Nainital district around 10 km upstream of Kathgodam.

It will irrigate 1,50,000 hectares of agricultural land and provide 42 MCM of drinking water per annum to Haldwani town, besides generating 63 million units of hydel power.