Kolkata: Work on the Ghatal Master Plan has gathered pace, with the first phase nearing completion and the second phase scheduled to begin on November 25.
State Irrigation and Waterways minister Manas Bhunia, after chairing a meeting of the monitoring committee to review the project’s progress, announced that the department aims to complete the entire project by 2027, in line with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s target.
The construction of five sluice gates in the Daspur II block has reached nearly 90 per cent completion.
The dredging of the Silabati River will be taken up this month itself at ‘cost to state exchequer model’. The Letter of Acceptance (LOA) was issued on September 26, and work is expected to commence this month.
The ‘cost to state exchequer model’, popularly known as ‘no cost dredging and clearance’, is the brainchild of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation will earmark the amount of sand and alluvium that needs to be lifted from the bed of the river, and the agency that will provide the highest rate will be assigned the job. The state will charge a premium or royalty against such lifting of sand and alluvium, and this amount will be utilised for dredging and desilting. A total of 40 schemes, all associated with dredging, will be taken up in this model.
The process has been initiated for the construction and rejuvenation of dwarf embankments parallel to the Ghatal circuit embankment. A detailed land survey for earmarking the current alignment will be completed by November 15.
Bhunia informed that the tender has been finalised for the civil and mechanical work of two pump houses within the Ghatal municipality at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore. However purchase of 4.09 out of 6.61-acre Rayati land for these pump houses is still awaiting nod.
Overall, 39 sluice regulators and 106 bridges are part of this project. Work for seven sluices has already started.
Among the four major circuit embankments that will be constructed, the finalisation of DPR for three of them is still pending, and for this a joint inspection involving concerned stakeholders will be held.
In the backdrop of non receipt of Centre’s assistance over the years following several pleas, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as a part of her commitment to the thousands of flood victims in Ghatal and surrounding areas, decided to implement the remaining components of the project out of its own budget with total cost of Rs 1500 crore to be executed over a period of two years starting from 2025-2026. Rs 500 crore has already been allocated for the financial year 2025-2026.