Mamata writes to PM, requests him to formulate plan to control Ganga erosion
Kolkata: Expressing concern over the continuous erosion of river Ganga in Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia districts, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to formulate an integrated plan to combat erosion in this zone along with ensuring suitable budgetary provision.
Banerjee in her letter also sought the Prime Minister's intervention to reconsider the decision to withdraw the extended jurisdiction of the Farakka Barrage Project Authority (FBPA).
In her three-page letter, Banerjee requested Modi to advise the ministry to involve West Bengal and Bihar governments, Ganga Flood Control Commission and Farakka Barrage Project Authority (FBPA) in the detailed technical study.
"The findings of the study may then be utilised to formulate an integrated plan to combat erosion in this zone, which is now the need of the hour. Since the interventions required will have high-cost implications, I also urge you to ensure that suitable budgetary provisions are made for the same as part of central assistance under Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP), so that the life and property of people in the area are saved," read the letter.
The CM emphasised that the study will help "find a sustainable solution for the abatement of erosion and flooding in the upstream and downstream of the barrage".
"Such a study will also indicate required changes in the barrage gate regulation during the monsoon season, which needs to be done as soon as possible, given the severe erosion on both iately downstream of the barrage, which has endangered the historical town of Dhulian and Samserganj Block in Murshidabad district," Banerjee wrote.
The letter maintains 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.
In her earlier letter on February 21, the Chief Minister had sought Modi's attention to the grave threats of erosion.
Banerjee further alleged that no Central assistance under Flood Management Plan was provided during the XI and XII Plan periods to address river erosion in the Ganga-Padma to either the FBPA or the state government despite repeated requests from 2015 to 2022.
According to her, due to the absence of any defined guidelines, strategy and funding pattern under the FMBAP from 2010 to February 2022, there was no scope for the state government to include new flood management projects under this programme, like the Ganga-Padma Erosion Protection Work.
She further reiterated that the state government took up some urgent bank protection work on its own at 31 identified vulnerable stretches (at a cost of more than Rs 168 crore) between 2017 and 2021. The government also took up erosion-abatement work for a length of 14 km at a total cost of more than
Rs 80 crore during the last year.
"But, as you may kindly appreciate given the magnitude of erosion along Ganga-Padma, such works are unlikely to provide any long-term sustainable solution to this grave problem," she added.
