Lower Damodar sub-basin: Infra work to be completed by July 2022
Kolkata: The state Irrigation & Waterways department has taken up the upgradation of flood management infrastructure in the lower Damodar sub-basin.
The comprehensive plan involves constructing flood walls, river embankment armouring, desilting the Mundeswari river and 41 other canals which is expected to be complete by
July 2022.
L&T has been roped in to work on this integrated flood management plan, including safeguarding against the ingress of water into human habitation and cultivated areas, in West Bengal's lower Damodar sub-basin roughly corresponding to the Hooghly and Howrah districts.
"The project was necessitated because the lower Damodar sub-basin, adjoining the two branches of the main Damodar — the Mundeswari River and Lower Damodar (Amta) Channel – spread over 1.887 lakh hectare (1,887 sq km) is historically flood prone. Around 4.61 lakh people and 335 sq km (0.335 lakh hectare) of cropped area are inundated by flood annually.
The area covers two municipalities and 20 administrative development blocks.
The work towards ensuring proper flood management will involve armouring the Damodar right dwarf embankment to act as broad crested weir to allow controlled spilling of flood water, improve the Damodar protected left embankment by providing adequate freeboard to withstand floods by constructing walls at identified locations, improve the upper Rampur and Hurhura channels by providing adequate freeboard with provisions for flood walls on the left embankment, raise and strengthen the countryside existing earthen embankments to its design section of Damodar left, Hurhura left and lower Rampur left embankments and protect river training work on Damodar/Mundeswari, Hurhura khal, upper Rampur and lower Rampur khals, and remodel and reconstruct sluices at the outfalls of the drainage channels.
The project is being co-financed by the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the state government will bear 30 percent of the cost.
