Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government is hopeful of initiating a major flood management project associated with Ganga–Padma erosion to save Ratua I block in Malda, where villagers from Katia Diara and Bhutni Diara have been bearing the brunt of river erosion.
“The Katia Diara is the meeting point of the Ganga River of Bengal after flowing through Bihar and Jharkhand, and hence hits hard there. An interstate meeting of the Ganga Flood Control Commission in Patna, under the initiative of the Jalshakti Ministry, was held on July 24, to discuss issues about anti-erosion works in Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. We have informed the Ministry about a Detailed Project Report (DPR) regarding the work that we need to undertake to address the massive erosion. We will soon submit our proposal to the Centre, and the two neighbouring states have also been asked to do the needful so that work can be started from December 2025,” said Manas Bhunia, state Irrigation and Waterways (I&W) minister.
Biplab Mukhopadhyay, Joint Secretary; Shabinath Gangopadhyay, Executive Engineer; and Debashis Roy, Deputy Director (Design) of state I & W department, attended the meeting on behalf of Bengal.
According to sources in the Irrigation department, this DPR of Rs 610 crore is part of a Rs 1,550 crore project that the state government has conceived for addressing erosion issues in both Malda and Murshidabad that stretches 163 km.
“This 45-km work that involves the coordination of three states is the most crucial part of the entire project. It has been submitted to the state Finance Department, Chief Secretary and Chief Minister for their due approval before being sent to the Centre,“ said a senior official of I & W department.
The work that will be executed by the state I & W department for protecting Ratua I block include construction of 5 spurs along with bank protection boxes, Paleo channel activation (15 km) through dredging along the right bank for channelizing the river flow to Rajmahal in Jharkhand which is a safe area, closing of Koshi channel for further reducing the erosion tendency of Fulhar as well as Ganga rivers. The next meeting for finalising the modalities may be held after 45 days, during which Jharkhand and Bihar are expected to submit their respective DPRs.
“If this project gets the nod from the Centre, we will be able to address the woes faced by the people of Ratua I block in Malda to a great extent,”
Bhunia said.