Parts of south Bengal could face severe water crisis in the days ahead if Jharkhand goes ahead with a plan to divert millions of cubic metres of water of the Barakar river – a major upstream tributary of the Damodar – in the next couple of years.

The work for the mega diversion project estimated to cost Rs.1150 crores is scheduled to begin in March 2016.

Jharkhand had proposed the ‘BarakarDamodar-Subarnarekha’ intra-state link project that entails diversion of 760 million cubic metre (MCM) of the Barakar river water to Subarnarekha river.

The purpose of the project, as claimed by Jharkhand, was to provide additional unused water of Barakar river at Bhalpahari dam in the upper catchment to Subarnarekha basin for drinking and industrial use, besides making the latter navigable.

On 20 June 2012, the Jharkhand government had authorised National Water Development Agency (NWDA) to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on interlinking rivers to resolve the recurring menace of drinking water crisis, especially in Ranchi.

This project envisages construction of a checkdam on Barakar river near Bhalpahari. The proposed 114 km link canal will also accommodate a 5 km tunnel from the right bank of Bhalpahari dam near Budhdia village in Dhanbad at an elevation of 237 metre and outfall in Subarnarekha river at a level of 257 metre.

A six-member Central team led by a chief engineer of the NWDA had inspected the proposed diversion zone in 2012 for the purpose of channeling surplus water from Barakar river in Tundi point near Dhanbad to Subarnarekha at Muri point near Ranchi.

“Out of the 760 MCM of diverted water from Barakar, 207 MCM will be utilised for en-route irrigation, 30 MCM for domestic use. Around 493 MCM water is to be diverted to Subarnarekha river for industrial navigation purpose, while 30 MCM water will be consumed in transmission losses,” the DPR stated.

The total cost of the project is to be around Rs.1148 crore at 2008-09 prices. The Benefit Cost Ratio and Internal Rate of Returns works out to 1.23 and 10.66 per cent respectively.

Mr Chandra Prakash Chowdhury, Jharkhand minister for drinking water and sanitation told The Statesman: “The DPR on the matter was submitted to the Union Ministry of Water Resources and on 15 September. the Centre has convened a meeting with the respective states for the purpose.”

Asked whether the diversion would hit Bengal&’s water resources by causing shrinking of the Damodar in the near future, Mr Chowdhury said: “I don’t think so. We have proposed to pump in the additional water from the Barakar river which remains unused round the year.” He added: “Every concerned state would be asked to express their views and West Bengal may give their opinion accordingly.”

West Bengal irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee told The Statesman: “We had no idea that such a plan has been hatched. I shall ask my senior engineers to get in touch with New Delhi tomorrow for cross verification and to take a look at the Detailed Project Report.”