The Odisha government has been ordered by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to take action within six months to revive a dead river in the Cuttack district by giving special funding for the project.
Seven people petitioned the NGT to revive the Sukapaika River, a branch of the Mahanadi, after its mouth was closed in the 1950s to restrict its unrestricted flow. According to accounts, they alleged that the riverbed had been changed into a waste dump.
The Sukapaika River has its outlet at Ayatpur, according to an affidavit submitted by Odisha’s Chief Engineer (Drainage) last year. It travels 27.50 kilometres before falling into the same river at Bankala. It includes Cuttack’s three Sadar, Raghunathpur, and Nischintakoili blocks. For the construction of the Taladanda Canal System and to preserve the Sukapaika Delta from flooding, it said, its mouth was shut in 1950.
Since there were several water bodies in the vicinity with enough groundwater reserves, it appears that the decision to seal the river mouth was made because it would not produce a water crisis.
The river was blocked from storing water and allowing free flow of water to its finish as a result of people steadily moving into the neighbourhood and encroaching at various points along the river.
To reopen the river mouth, a public hearing was held in Kishannagar in January 2020, and in April 2021, the State Technical Advisory Committee of the Flood Control Board approved a project for Rs 44.04 crore.
In another affidavit, it was alleged that the committee had suggested property purchase in order to construct a sluice on the Mahanadi right embankment, cross drainage work over a distributary of the Taladanda Canal, four village road-bridges, and repair the entire drainage channel.
It was also mentioned that the state government had granted Rs 49.67 crore for the restoration of the Sukapaika drainage channel, and that this project will be submitted to the government for budgetary provisions in 2022–2023
As the suggested sluice location at Ayatpur is located 9 km upstream from the gauge site, the technical committee remarked that this will enable entry of Mahanadi flood water to Sukapaika drainage canal.
The state was given a month to allocate Rs 49.67 crore to the restoration of Sukapaika and finish the project for rejuvenation by March 13 of the following year, according to a directive from the NGT’s eastern zone bench.
Prasanta Patnaik