Mamata Banerjee draws PM’s attention to river erosion, floods in West Bengal

Erosion along the Ganga-Padma river in three districts of West Bengal has resulted in a loss of nearly 2,800 hectares of fertile land to the river, and damages to properties worth Rs 1,000 crore, in the last 15 years, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has told Prime Minister Modi in a letter. The chief minister has added that despite the issue raised earlier with the Centre in 2017, the absence of adequate measures to address the issue has aggravated the situation.

“Such erosion along the river bank has largely been caused by the siltation in the river bed and frequent shifting of river course consequent upon the construction of Farakka Barrage,” Mamata stated, adding, “In view of this, the erstwhile Ministry of Water Resources, in the year 2005, extended the work jurisdiction of the Farakka Barrage Project Authority (FBPA) from 40 km upstream of Barrage to further 80 km downstream for the purpose of undertaking anti-erosion and riverbank protection works in the entire stretch.”

The letter states that despite the state's several requests, FBPA has not looked into the erosion problem in the extended jurisdiction of 120 km. “This has further aggravated the land loss due to river erosion over 400 square kilometres of 15 blocks of Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia districts in West Bengal,” Mamata wrote and mentioned that the Union ministry of water resources in 2017, unilaterally withdrew the 2005 decision on extended jurisdiction, resorting to the earlier specified dimension of 11.5 km upstream, and to 5.9 km downstream of the barrage.

Subsequently, the same year, Mamata had requested PM Modi to restore the extended jurisdiction of 120 km, but no response was offered on this issue.

While the state government has taken several measures to protect vulnerable locations in the last four years, the funds required is much more, and “It is becoming increasingly difficult for the state government to arrange the funds required for new bank protection works”.

Besides the Ganga-Padma erosion issue, Bengal also faces flood and erosion along ‘transboundary’ rivers, namely, Mahananda, Fulhar, Tangon, Atrayee and Punarbhava. These affect around 21 blocks of Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda districts. In 2017, the flood had affected 4,978 square kilometres. The state, subsequently, had sent a flood management scheme to the Ganga Flood Control Commission in May last year for appraisal. The CM has asked PM Modi to look into these issues concerning flood management in the state.

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