Odisha Government’s plan to Rehabilitate People Displaced by Hirakud Dam

The Odisha government announced a plan for giving land rights to 1,749 families in Jharsuguda district, who had lost their land amid the construction of the Hirakud dam over the Mahanadi River in the 1950s.

Addressing a long-pending demand of land pattas for the people displaced by the Hirakud dam built in 1950s, the Odisha government led by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday decided to give pattas to 1,749 families in Jharsuguda district from December.

The decision was taken after a high-level meeting chaired by development commissioner Anu Garg.

Built at a cost of a little over ₹100 crore, the multi-purpose Hirakud dam, with an overall length of 4.8 km across river Mahanadi, was constructed between 1946 and 1957 for flood control, irrigation and power generation.

About Hirakud Dam

• Hirakud Dam is one of the longest dams of the world, located at a distance of 15 km from the main city of Sambalpur in Odisha. It is the world's longest earthen dam of about 16 miles, around 26 km in length. 
• Built on the River Mahanadi at a cost of Rs.1000 millions, the Hirakud Dam project is one of its kind in the entire country. After India’s independence it is said to be one of the first major multi-use river valley projects.
• Before the destructive floods that took place in the year of 1937 in the river Mahanadi, Sir M. Visveswararya then proposed an exhaustive investigation with a proper solution to prevent these floods in the delta region of river Mahanadi. 
• According to his findings it was then decided to understand and endow in the potential of the Mahanadi in order to not just control it but also to utilize it to serve various purposes. 
• The project work was then undertaken by the ‘Central Waterways, Navigation and Irrigation Commission’. 
• In June 1947, a detailed project report was then submitted to the Indian Government when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of the country, who on 12 April 1948 laid the first batch of concrete. 
• In 1953 the construction work of Hirakud dam was completed and was inaugurated on 13th of January 1957 by Jawaharlal Nehru itself. In 1956 agricultural irrigation along with power generation was started which in the year 1966 achieved complete potential.