Odisha comes up with compensatory irrigation mechanism for acquisition of irrigated land

The Odisha Government recently issued guidelines for industrial houses to undertake “compensatory irrigation” in line with “compensatory afforestation”, if irrigation land needs to be acquired for different projects.

“While both agriculture and industrialisation are necessary for creating employment and ensuring growth, the State Government has been very careful in avoiding the setting up of industries in irrigated agriculture command areas (ayacut). However, it is realised that sometimes it may not be possible for an industry to avoid the irrigation command area completely,” the State Government said in its statement.