Gangasagar travel time to be cut short soon as Irrigation dept gears up for cutting-edge dredging

Kolkata: Round-the-clock ferrying of pilgrims and thereby reducing the travel time to Gangasagar will soon be a reality, with the state Irrigation & Waterways department taking up dredging of Muriganga river using state-of-the-art machinery from Holland.

The state government on Monday signed a contract with the Dredging Corporation of India to carry out scientific dredging and maintenance of Muriganga for a period of seven years.

The contract, worth Rs 120 crore, will enable the state government to procure two state-of-the-art dredgers from Holland for carrying out dredging work at Muriganga.

"Till date, the dredging of Muriganga was carried out by the local administration with assistance of our department. However, under the instructions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, we have officially taken up dredging work. We decided that we should carry out the work in a scientific and efficient manner, in order to reduce travel time to Gangasagar. After much deliberations and necessary nod from the Chief Minister, we have decided on this move," state Irrigation minister Saumen Kumar Mahapatra said.

According to the minister, the results of the dredging will be experienced by the pilgrims right from the 2019 Gangasagar Mela. The Mela is scheduled to be held on January 10 and 11, when a huge number of people from different parts of the country visit Sagar Island to take a holy dip at the confluence of river Ganga during Makarsankranti every year. The footfall at the Mela this year was 25 lakh.

It may be mentioned that Gangasagar has already emerged as a major tourist destination, with the Mamata Banerjee government giving it a massive infrastructural boost. People visit the place throughout the year.

During low tide, it becomes impossible to operate vessels to ferry pilgrims from the mainland and so, the latter have to wait for a long time. Dredging is carried out every year before the Mela, but still people have to wait for a long time to reach the Kapil Muni Ashram in Sagar Island.

"Now, with this scientific dredging, the travel time will be lesser by at least three hours and the solution will be long-term" said a senior official of the Irrigation department who attended the meeting.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been constantly emphasising on smooth journey of the pilgrims to Sagar Island and this will be a significant stride towards the same.

Apart from Mahapatra, senior officials of the state Irrigation department, Dredging Corporation of India and minister of state for Sunderban Affairs Manturam Pakhira, attended the meeting at Jalasampad Bhavan in Salt Lake on Tuesday.