PM Modi inaugurats Saryu Canal National Project in UP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Saryu Canal National Project at Balrampur district in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. PM Modi began his address by remembering the martyrs of the chopper crash on 8th of December. He said, the loss of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat is a tremendous loss to every Indian. He said, General Rawat was working to make Indian armed forces self-reliant and strengthening border infrastructure. He also remembered the brave son of Deoria district Group Captain Varun Singh who is the lone survivor in the unfortunate incident of helicopter crash. He said, the doctors are trying their best to save the Group Captain’s life. Modi said that at the time of the commencement of this project 40 years back, its initial cost was less than 100 crore rupees, but now it has increased to around 10,000 crore. He said, the lackluster attitude of the previous governments’ was responsible for holding such projects for decades.

The Prime Minister said, when he assumed charge in 2014, he was shocked to see that 99 projects of irrigation in the country were kept pending for decades. He said, by dedicating the Saryu Canal National Project to the people, his government has accomplished in five years what the earlier government could not do in 50 years.  Taking a jibe at the main Opposition party, the Prime Minister said, their priority is laying the foundation stone of the projects but ours is to complete the projects within time. Modi said, the previous government in Uttar Pradesh worked hand in hand with the mafias, but the Yogi Adityanath Government has eliminated them.

The project will facilitate irrigation to over 14 lakh hectares of land in nine districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The project will benefit about 29 lakh farmers in over 6200 villages. Five rivers- Ghaghra, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohin have been interlinked to facilitate irrigation in the water deficit regions of eastern UP. The project was pending for over 40 years and the work on it expedited since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed charge in 2014. The project is the largest among the 99 projects that are to be completed under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana in the country.
The Saryu Canal National Project was planned in 1972 and the work on it started in 1978 but due to the lack of budgetary support and inter-departmental coordination, the project could not make much progress. The project was revived when Prime Minister Narendra Modi included the Saryu Canal National Project in the 99 projects that are to be completed on priority basis under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. After Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government assumed charge in 2017, the project got a major boost. More than half of the work on the project has been completed in the last four years.Initially the project was to start on a small scale in 1978 for irrigation in two districts at a cost of over 78 crore rupees but now it has been extended to nine districts and the overall cost on the project has increased to over nine thousand 800 crore rupees.The project is hailed as the biggest river linking project in Uttar Pradesh. Two barrages have been built on river Saryu and Rapti to transport water to the fields. The project starts from the Saryu Barrage at Bahraich.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in his address said eastern Uttar Pradesh has been neglected since independence but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has helped this region to develop in all possible ways. He said the Prime Minister had recently inaugurated development projects worth 10 thousand crore rupees including AIIMS and Fertilizer Plant in Gorakhpur.  Adityanath said a series of Medical Colleges are coming up in the state. He said the government is committed to open at least one medical college in each district in the state. Mr. Adityanath said, he is confident that this project will help farmers in the Poorvanchal and help in achieving the goal of doubling farmers’ income.