Kolkata: A group of ministers, MLAs and MPs from Bengal will be submitting an eight-point demand charter before the Centre and the Niti Aayog claiming a comprehensive resolution to avoid floods and erosion in Bengal.
The eight-point charter of demands was sorted out during a meeting held at Jalasampad Bhavan on Friday. A document containing all the demands will be sent to Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi to finalise the same following further consultation with the concerned authorities, sources said.
Following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's directions, the representatives from flood-affected areas, including Arambagh's MP Aparupa Poddar, Ghatal's MP Dev, state Irrigation minister Saumen Mahapatra, Water Resources Investigation and Development minister Manas Bhunia, Minister of State for MSME and Salboni MLA Srikanta Mahato, Minister of State for Panchayats and Keshpur MLA Seuli Saha, Midnapore MLA June Malia and Minister of State for Technical Education Humayun Kabir will be visiting New Delhi next week. The team is scheduled to place the demands to Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and the Niti Aayog. Banerjee gave directions during her visit to flood-hit areas at Ghatal in West Midnapore. The recent floods have claimed 23 lives in Bengal.
The eight demands include immediate financial sanction for Rs 1,238 crore worth Ghatal Master Plan, Sunderbans and Digha Master Plan, a Rs 471 crore worth project to prevent floods in Malda, North and South Dinajpur, a project worth Rs 571 crore to check erosion at vulnerable areas along river Ganga and the Padma, another project to check erosion along river Bhagirathi, the remaining work of projects related to the devastation caused by cyclone Aila, dredging at reservoirs of the Damodar Valley Corporation and the remaining work of the Keleghai-Kapaleshwari project.
The Centre had not given financial sanction for the Ghatal Master Plan despite repeated requests in the past 10 years, leaving lakhs of people homeless due to flood-like situations almost every monsoon in areas including Ghatal, Daspur and Debra in West Midnapore.
Again, erosion along the banks of river Ganga and the Padma is a major cause of concern for Malda and Murshidabad. The Padma divides Murshidabad in Bengal with Bangladesh. Hence, the erosion of the river banks also leads to a threat to national security as there have been instances when river banks close to the Border Out Post (BOP) of the Border Security Force had washed away. BSF jawans maintain a vigil on Bangladesh on the other side of the river from the BOP.
A stretch of Ganga divides Malda from the neighbouring states in its west. Erosion in these areas has come up as a serious issue taking away the land and property of the locals. Implementation of the Keleghai-Kapaleshwari project is crucial for flood control in certain parts of West and East Midnapore. With a lackadaisical attitude of the Centre, the Mamata Banerjee government has executed a major part of the Keleghai-Kapaleshwari project at an expense of Rs 700 crore. "Now, they must cooperate to complete the remaining part," said a senior state government officer.