‘Spar’ technique to prevent erosion at Gangasagar

Kolkata: The state Irrigation and Waterways department has adopted a new nature-based solution popularly known as ‘Spar’ to tackle the erosion in and around the Kapil Muni Ashram at Gangasagar. The basic idea is to reduce the intensity of the wave before it hits the sea shore in a similar fashion as a speed breaker is used to control the speed of a vehicle.

“We are creating a ‘Bulla’ (a wooden pool-like structure using stems of eucalyptus trees deeply settled under the ground) and are putting broken tree parts within that platform to give it a strong shape. The technology is known as Spar. This ‘bulla’ line runs parallel to the sea coastline and when the waves that also come parallelly hit the ‘bulla’ line, the tremendous kinetic energy that it carries is reduced drastically which in turn prevents the waves to hit the shore with its actual force and thus protect erosion,” a senior official of the state Irrigation and Waterways department said.

He added that the sea water after hitting the bulla line gets trapped in between the wooden structure between the coastline and the bulla line thereby depositing silt. This results in foreshore formation and as a result erosion is curbed.

Minister in-charge of Sunderban Affairs department Bankim Chandra Hazra who recently paid a visit to supervise the work of Spar technology along with officials of Irrigation department and Gangasagar Bakkhali Development Authority expressed his optimism that this nature-based solution will be able to address the erosion in and around Kapil Muni Ashram. “40 m of such bulla line has already been laid in and around ghat number 6 and will gradually be extended till ghat number 1,” said Hazra.

According to Nabanna officials, ghat number 6 has been the worst affected due to erosion in the recent past and the road leading to the ghat has also been badly damaged. The Public Works Department has already started work for rejuvenation of the road.

The senior official of the Irrigation department maintained that a similar technique was adopted at Bankimnagar in Sagar Islands where embankments would often get breached. For the last one year, there has hardly been any erosion.