Bengal rolls out CM’s ‘no-cost dredging model’ to desilt rivers

Kolkata: State Irrigation and Waterways minister Manas Bhunia on Wednesday informed the state Assembly that a unique ‘no cost dredging and clearance ‘model—conceptualised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee—is being adopted in the state for dredging of rivers and desilting of canals.

This initiative comes in response to the Central government’s failure to provide funding for dredging and erosion prevention since 2015. Previously, the state spent Rs 587 crore each year on dredging 887 kilometres.

The West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation will designate the quantity of sand and alluvium to be extracted from the

riverbeds. The agency that offers the highest bid will be assigned the work.

The state will levy a premium or royalty on the extraction of sand and alluvium and the revenue generated will be used to fund dredging and desilting operations.

“The East Midnapore district administration has taken up 19 schemes involving a total length of 118 km and a revenue of Rs 112 crore will be mopped up soon. In West Midnapore, work for the excavation of Palashpai Canal has started. The Silabati River is also being rejuvenated through this no-cost dredging model. The Keleghai and Kapaleshwari rivers are being excavated and the Teesta barrage will also be desilted through this model,” said Bhunia.

He added that several districts have responded with Birbhum sending 16 schemes, Hooghly 11 and North 24-Parganas 5.

The tender process for canal excavation in several blocks of Howrah, including Shyampur I and II, Bagnan I and II, Amta I and II, Uluberia II, and Udaynarayanpur, is in its final stages.

With the bed of the Teesta rising around two metres following the 2023 Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Sikkim, the state government will soon start dredging and desilting the river in North Bengal through the no-cost dredging model.

There are 8,670 canals or rivulets in Bengal and most of them are faced with siltation threats.