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Raipur March 12, 2025: To increase the water level in Indravati River, on the initiative of Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai and with the consent of the Odisha government, water has been released into the main stream of Indravati river by controlling the water flow in Jora Nala Control Structure.
To resolve the water crisis of Indravati river, on instruction from Chief Minister Sai, Chhattisgarh Water Resources Minister Kedar Kashyap had discussed with Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil, official sources said today.
Looking into the gravity of the situation, the Union Minister gave necessary instructions to the Chief Ministers of both the BJP ruled states Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
“As a result, with the consent of the state of Odisha, Jora Nala Control Structure was temporarily raised by one feet by putting sand bags on the Structure, which has increased the water level in Indravati river,” official sources said.
Apart from this, the work of removing sand deposited in the upstream and downstream of Indravati river have also been started, which is targeted to be completed by the first week of April, the sources added.
In this regard Bastar Collector Haris S, Additional Collector CP Baghel, Additional Superintendent of Police Maheshwar Nag and Executive Engineer Ved Pandey of Water Resources Department also gave complete information to the local farmers in the district office.
Problem of Indravati River and Jora Nala
Indravati River originates from Rampur Dhumal village of Kalahandi district in Odisha. This river meets the Godavari after a journey of 534 kilometers. The catchment area of the river is 41,665 square kilometers, which includes 7,435 square km in Odisha, 33,735 square km in Chhattisgarh and 495 square km in Maharashtra.
Indravati River splits into two parts at village Sutpadar on the border of Odisha state. One part flows for five km in the form of Indravati river and enters Chhattisgarh near village Bhejapadar, while the other part flows for 12 km in the form of Jora Nala and merges with Shabri (Kolaab) river.
Earlier, water from Jora Nala used to flow into Indravati, but gradually that was increased and the flow of Indravati decreased.
When the problem became serious, in a meeting of the chief engineers of Odisha and Chhattisgarh in December 2003, it was decided to build a control structure for water division at the mouth of Jora Nala. This structure was built by the Odisha government, whose design was prepared by the Central Water Commission (CWC), they said.
Even after construction, due to more water flowing into Jora Nala, Chhattisgarh got an average of 40.71 per cent water flow during summer and Odisha got 59.29 per cent water flow.
Progress towards solution with the initiative of the state government
The Chhattisgarh government made many efforts to ensure minimum water flow in the Indravati river. On 6 January 2021, officials of the Water Resources Department of Odisha and Chhattisgarh conducted a joint inspection. In this inspection, a request was made to remove sand and boulders and straighten the bend of Jora Nala to prevent waterlogging upstream of the control structure.
After the year 2018, there was a problem of continuous low water flow in the Indravati river. Now the efforts of the state government have received the support of the Odisha government, due to which concrete steps are being taken to balance the water flow of the river. This will increase the water flow in the Indravati river and ensure better availability of water for irrigation to the farmers.
