Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday approved a proposal for irrigating about 26,248 hectare under drought-prone Koksara block in Kalahandi district by drawing water through pumps from the Indravati reservoir. Under the project, a pump house would be set up near the Hati barrage of Indravati river from where water would be drawn by pipes and released in a canal and then to agricultural fields. With implementation of the project under the Lift Canal System, the drought-prone Kalahandi district could become an irrigated area in the state, official sources said. The project named as Koksara Lift Project was approved at a high-level meeting presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here. Targeting to begin work by end of 2011, the project would be completed by 2013. The work, however, could only start after it received approval from the Central Water Commission (CWC) and clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), water resources department secretary Suresh Mohapatra said. So far 76,000 hectare of agricultural land was irrigated by using water from Indravati Irrigation project. We can irrigate another 25,484 hectare of land by extending both left and right side canals of the Indravati Project, Mohapatra said.