Lucknow, Dec 9 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Rs 9,802 crore Saryu Canal National project in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district on December 11.

The project, which is the biggest in Uttar Pradesh, will benefit 25-30 lakh farmers in nine eastern UP districts – Bahraich, Gonda, Shravasti, Balrampur, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Maharajganj, Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh said.

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The project, which was started way back in 1978, has been completed due to expeditious handling by the prime minister, Singh told reporters in Bahraich on Thursday.

It will facilitate irrigation of 14.04 lakh hectares of land and at the same time, reduce the risk of floods in several flood-prone areas of the region due to water coming from Nepal, he said.

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Five rivers have been connected under this project, including Ghagra, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohin, while canals with a length of 6,600 kilometers have been linked to the 318 km long main canal.

The state government started this project on a small scale in 1978 for irrigation in two districts at a cost of Rs 78.68 crore. Four years later in 1982, it was expanded to nine districts. Its name was changed to Saryu Canal National Project and the cost was increased to a whopping Rs 9,802 crore by 2021.

The irrigated area in this project will be 4.04 lakh hectares, officials said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)