In news–The Saryu Nahar National Project has been inaugurated by the Prime Minister recently.
About the Saryu Nahar National Project-
- The work on the project started in 1978 but due to administrative reasons it got delayed.
- In 2016 the project was brought under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with the target to complete it in a time bound manner.
- Saryu canal project has been built with a total cost of more than Rs. 9800 crore.
- The project involves interlinking of five rivers – Ghaghara, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohini to ensure optimum usage of water resources of the region.
- The project will provide assured water for irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land and benefit about 29 lakh farmers of over 6200 villages.
- The irrigated area in this project will be 4.04 lakh hectares.
- It will benefit nine districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh namely – Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj.
Sarayu river-
- It originates at a ridge south of Nanda Kot mountain in Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand, India
- This river is mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the Ved and Ramayan.
- It is one of the seven tributaries of the river Gaṅgā and considered so sacred that it washes away impurities of humankind.
- Ayodhya – Birth place of Lord Shree Ram and capital of state Ayodhya in Treta Yuga is located on the bank of Sarayu river.
- The river Ghaghara is the main tributary of Sarayu River, also Mahakali and Karnali rivers join in the Bahraich District of Uttar Pradesh and then famous as Sarayu River.
- Later Sarayu River meets the river Ganges.
Further reading: https://journalsofindia.com/pradhan-mantri-krishi-sinchayee-yojana/
Source: PIB
