In a move to woo farmers in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday visit the poll-bound state's Balrampur district and inaugurate the Saryu Nahar National Project.

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) release, the 6,623-kilometer-long canal system will provide assured water for irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land to the benefit of about 29 lakh farmers of nine districts in the region – Bahraich, Shravasti, Gonda, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, and Maharajganj.

The PMO said although work on the project began in 1978, it was delayed due to lack of continuity of budgetary support, interdepartmental coordination, and adequate monitoring and was not completed even after more than four decades.

The project was only settled after PM Modi’s government took active measures to complete it, said the release, highlighting that of the total ₹9,800-crore cost of the project, more than ₹4,600 crore was provisioned in the last four years.

“A project that was incomplete for four decades has been finished in four years,” PM Modi tweeted.

What are the salient features of the Saryu Nahar National Project?

• The project involves the interlinking of five rivers—Ghaghara, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga, and Rohini—to ensure optimum usage of water resources of the region. The sub canals with a length of 6,600km have been linked to the 318km main canal.

• The project will provide assured water for irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land and benefit about 29 lakh farmers of more than 6,200 villages, according to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

• The farmers of eastern UP, who were arguably the worst sufferers of the inordinate delay in the canal project, are now expected to benefit from the upgraded irrigation potential and grow crops on a larger scale, maximising the agri-potential of the region.

• According to the Uttar Pradesh government, the canal project, in addition to providing a boost to the agriculture sector in eastern Uttar Pradesh, will also be an important milestone in the BJP government’s pledge to double the income of the farmers by 2022.

• The canal system is also expected to protect the districts of eastern UP from recurrent floods.

When the Prime Minister inaugurates the Saryu Nahar National Project on Saturday at Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh, protesting farmers will be returning to their villages from the Delhi border as a result of the peasants' unions calling off their year-long agitation against the now-repealed farm laws.

It shows the farmers’ trust in the Bharatiya Janata Party government, a BJP leader told Hindustan Times, adding that functionaries have been mobilised to make the inauguration programme successful.

The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has also launched a massive campaign on social media, as well as in the rural areas of eastern UP, terming the project a major achievement of the party’s double engine government at the Centre and in the state.

(With inputs from agencies)