sasaram much to the chagrin of peasants waiting for water in their parched fields chief minister nitish kumar on thursday candidly confessed he was not in a position to say when the 35yearold durgawati reservoir project would be completed even the engineers engaged in the execution of one of the oldest irrigation projects of the state cannot give a deadline for its completion kumar told newsmen as he went around inspecting the project at karamchat village in kaimur hills for nearly two hours on thursday the second day of his seva yatra in rohtas the stone of the project was laid in 1976 by the then union minister and local mp jagjiwan ram while its estimated cost was originally rs 253 crore a whopping rs 350 crore has been spent on it so far cm kumar said insofar as the fate of the project is concerned the ball is in the court of centre because the state has complied with the 22point terms and conditions of the green bench of the supreme court the state even deposited rs 400 crore for forestation as demanded by the centre for restarting work on the project he said and added the state government was in constant touch with the union ministry of forests and environment to push things kumar a product of bihar college of engineering which has now been upgraded as national institute of technology at one point shouted at the engineers at the site asking them not to give him lessons in engineering as he got the engineering degree 25 years back irrigation departments engineerinchief o p rajak later told this correspondent that after the centres goahead for resumption of work on the project it would take two to three years to complete it and provide water to the dry fields of many villages in kaimur and rohtas districts state water resources development minister vijay kumar chaudhary and art culture minister sukhda pandey were accompanying the cm