Alipurduar: Last year, during the monsoons, several roads, culverts, bridges and drains under the jurisdiction of the Jaigaon Development Authority (JDA) were swept away by landslides and flash floods into Bhutan. The JDA has been working diligently to complete renovations of these roads, culverts and bridges before this year’s monsoons. About 40 per cent of the work has already been completed.
In Dalsingpara and Jaigaon-I and II Panchayats, infrastructure such as roads, culverts, bridges and drains were destroyed by the flash floods and landslides from Bhutan in July 2023. The damage included collapsed sewers and broken roads. Following the disaster, total Rs 18.5 crore were allocated for JDA’s infrastructural renovations by the state government.
According to JDA sources, Rs 14 crore has been provided by the state’s Urban Development department. The remaining Rs 4.5 crore were provided by the North Bengal Development Department (Rs 3 crore) and the Alipurduar Zilla Parishad (Rs 1.5 crore).
Gangaprasad Sharma, Chairman of JDA, said: “Roads, culverts, drains and bridges in different areas of JDA were washed away due to landslides and rains from Bhutan last monsoon. Several effects of that disaster can be seen in Jaigaon town. Infrastructural development work was initiated but had to be paused due to the elections. Now that voting in Alipurduar is concluded, work has resumed. The progress is around 35 to 40 per cent in various areas. Our aim is to complete the work in these three Gram Panchayat areas before the monsoon.”
Last year, numerous roads, culverts, drains and guard walls of various rivers in the JDA area were damaged during the monsoon. Vast areas of JDA’s three Panchayats and Jaigaon town were inundated by water from Bhutan, causing the border town of Jaigaon to come to a standstill. At that time, minister of Irrigation and Water Bodies department, Partha Bhowmik, visited the scene.