'J'Khand agrees to Bengal's proposal on joint regulation of Tenughat Dam'

KOLKATA: The flood management issue associated with certain parts of Howrah and Hooghly due to unregulated release of water from Tenughat Dam in Jharkhand during rainy season has been resolved with Jharkhand agreeing to the proposal of the Bengal government for joint regulation of the dam at the Eastern Zonal Council meeting at Nabanna Sabhaghar on Saturday under the chairmanship of union Home Minister Amit Shah.

"The Tenughat Dam has been solely regulated by Jharkhand and we hardly used to get any information of release of water from Tenughat Dam . So, when large volume of water is released from the dam it hits Panchet Dam in our state which gets overflowed and is compelled to release water resulting in flood like situation in areas like Khanakul in Hooghly, Udaynarayanpur in Howrah to name a few. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has time and again been vocal against indiscriminate water release from Tenughat Dam . Ultimately, Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren in presence of our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has agreed to the joint regulation of Tenughat Dam. So, we are hopeful that flood-like situation can be regulated to a good extent from the next monsoon season," a senior official of Nabanna said.

The issues related to co ordination between the state and Jharkhand in connection with the use of water of Massanjore Dam was also discussed at the meeting.

In the month of October, Principal Secretary of Irrigation department Prabhat Kumar Mishra and Joint Secretary Biplab Mukherjee at the Eastern Zonal Council meeting in New Delhi had flagged off the issue of joint regulation.

Interestingly, this year there has been scanty rainfall and the issue of water release has not arisen but every year during rainy season, some areas particularly in Howrah and Hooghly district of Bengal face flood-like situation.

"We will soon jointly prepare the modalities for joint management of Tenughat Dam,"a senior official of state Irrigation department said.

In the meeting, the Bengal government also agreed to the Jharkhand CM's proposal for joint management of Massanjore Dam.