State's oldest irrigation structure gets renovated, to benefit 2.65 lakh people

Kolkata: The Bengal government has reconstructed the state's oldest irrigation structure on river Kangsabati in Midnapore and provided respite to farmers by ensuring better irrigation for 35,000 hectare land in East and West Midnapore districts respectively.

It will benefit 2.65 lakh people in the areas under Kharagpur-II, Debra, Pingla, Narayangar and Panskura blocks.

Midnapore Anicut Barrage is a 154-year-old structure that was developed by the then East India Irrigation and Canal Company in 1866 and regulated water supply through connecting channels for better irrigation had begun in 1871.

The structure had witnessed several upgradation in the past one century. But a flood in 2007 had caused major damage, affecting the irrigation system in the area.

Finally, the Mamata Banerjee government took up the project of reconstructing the same at a cost of Rs 104.50 crore with the help of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (Nabard).

Besides reconstructing the century-old structure, dredging and concrete lining work have also been carried out in Midnapore Main Canal and its distributaries at a cost of Rs 114.47 crore creating 53,947 mandays of work. Dredging and concrete lining has been carried out along 26 km of the main river channel while the same has also been undertaken for 100 km of its distributaries.

According to a senior official of the state Irrigation and Waterways department, completion of both the projects is ensuring immense help for the farmers of both East and West Midnapore as there is no scope of canals overflowing during monsoon and at the same time in summers too, there will be sufficient supply of water for agricultural purposes. Various parameters were taken into consideration while carrying out the reconstruction of the barrage as it is a very old structure, the officer said.