Kolkata: The Bengal government is preparing a Ganga-Padma Erosion Control Master Plan to give a respite to lakhs of residents mainly of Malda and Murshidabad from the menace of acres after acres getting washed away due to erosion every year.
The move of preparing a master plan to check erosion along river Ganga and river Padma has been taken after the visit of eight-member team comprising Ghatal's MP Dev, state Irrigation minister Saumen Mahapatra, Water Resources Investigation and Development minister Manas Bhunia and others on August 31 and submitted an eight-point charter of demands before the Centre and Niti Aayog claiming a comprehensive resolution to avoid flood and erosion in Bengal.
Senior officers and engineers of the state Irrigation department have already initiated the site visits to identify the vulnerable areas.
The state government is also going to hold a meeting with the top brass of the Farakka Barage Project Authority, Bihar government and Jharkhand government to discuss issues related to the erosion control measures before the master plan is prepared.
A team comprising senior officers had visited different erosion prone areas since Thursday. A preliminary survey of the areas in both "upstream" and "downstream" of Farakka Barrage on river Ganga has also been carried out.
Sources said that the work to prepare the master plan has been initiated and a subsequent Detailed Project Report (DPR) would be sent to the Centre.
The state Irrigation and Waterways department is also going to appoint a consultant for preparation of the DPR and the process to appoint the consultant has also started.
Meanwhile, massive erosion has reduced the distance between river Ganga and Fular to 1.6 km only.
It was 8 km around eight years ago.
An assessment of the state Irrigation and Waterways department has revealed that the remaining 1.6 km land between the rivers would get washed away in the next maximum six to seven years if immediate steps are not taken.
The River Research Institute has also initiated a survey using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) technology in this regard.