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The Prime Minister inaugurated an interlinking of rivers project called the Saryu Nahar National Project which was pending for four decades. The inauguration took place at Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh.

About Project

• This project intends the interlink five rivers namely Ghaghara, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohini.
• The onset of the project took place in 1978 and was called Ghagra Canal but due to lack of funds and inefficient coordination between the departments, it was stalled for a long time.
• In 1982-83, the scope of the project was expanded to include nine districts of the trans-GhaghraRapti-Rohini region of Purvanchal and it was renamed the Saryu Project.
• In 2012, the Centre declared it a national project and renamed it the Saryu Canal National Project.
• The project is also connected to the River Valley Linking Project of the Government of India.
• In 2016, the project was included within the ambit of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana for its timely implementation and completion.

Importance

• Interlinking of five rivers-Ghaghara, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohini.
• To ensure optimum usage of water resources of the region.
• To benefit about 29 lakh farmers of over 6200 villages of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
• Farmers will be able to maximize the agri-potential of the region.
• Assured water for the irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land.

To benefit 9 districts of Eastern UP namely- Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Mharajganj.