Govt to go for overall repair of Durgapur Barrage

Kolkata: The state government will take up overall repairing work of the Durgapur Barrage soon.

Rajib Banerjee, the state Irrigation minister, said in the Assembly on Thursday that the work will be undertaken in phases. It may be mentioned that this is the first time such a major project has been taken up for an overall repairing of the barrage since it was set up.

On November 24, a portion of the lock gate number one of the barrage was damaged and the water reserved in the barrage had drained out.

The repairing work was carried out in war footing by the state Irrigation department. All the senior officials of the department were present at the spot. The minister himself closely monitored the repairing work and ensured its completion within 2 days. But it took another 24 hours to restore the same level of water in the barrage after it was released by DVC. A floating gate was installed in front of the damaged one and subsequently supply of water in the area was restored by November 27. The situation completely normalised by the next 24 hours.

Durgapur Barrage, that was set up in 1955, plays a crucial role in irrigational projects and districts including Bankura, Burdwan, Howrah and Hooghly are dependable on the barrage. It is also important for ensuring water supply in agricultural land of around 3.93 lakh hectre and some other areas. Banerjee said the barrage was constructed 62 years ago and hardly any repairing work was done during the Left Front regime.

It was the Mamata Banerjee government which took up the work to prepare a detailed plan for an overall repairing of the barrage. The minister visited the spot on Wednesday along with the senior officials of his departments and experts from Jadavpur University to implement the project at its earliest.