CM Nitish Kumar laid the Rs 7,832 crore Western Kosi Canal Project cornerstone to boost irrigation and transform agriculture in Madhubani and Darbhanga.
Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, has laid the groundwork for the Western Kosi Canal in Madhubani district to be expanded, renovated, and modernized. According to JDU’s acting national president and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Kumar Jha, the project, which is valued at Rs 7,832.29 crore, is anticipated to have a revolutionary effect on the agricultural sector in the districts of Darbhanga and Madhubani over the course of the next two to three years, allowing for year-round bumper crops comparable to those in Punjab and Haryana.
Sanjay Kumar Jha thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the central government’s financial help, calling the action a historic step towards Mithila’s growth.
With 35.13 km in Nepal and 56.69 km in India, the Western Kosi main canal is 91.82 km long. The project would increase the yearly irrigation capacity to approximately 291,000 hectares and increase the irrigation intensity to 135 percent by lining 741 km of canals with cement-concrete to provide a continuous supply of water for irrigation throughout both the Rabi and Kharif seasons.
Along with 260 new bridges, the project also entails the repair of 407 existing bridges and the construction of 338 km of roadways along a single embankment. In addition, 158 cross-drainage structures will be created, with 127 existing ones being fixed, and 558 new regulators will be built in addition to 218 existing ones being repaired. The region’s floodwater management and irrigation efficiency are intended to be enhanced by these actions.
Sanjay Kumar Jha emphasized that although earlier Bihar governments had started irrigation projects, they lacked a well-defined plan for their completion. With a well-defined plan, the Nitish Kumar administration has made progress on the Western Kosi Canal project. After Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised financial backing for the project in the 2024 Union Budget, the project was finally approved by the state cabinet in July 2024.