Kolkata: Residents of erosion-hit areas in Malda and Murshidabad could begin to see the impact of anti-erosion measures within a year, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said after a high-level meeting at the Union Jal Shakti ministry in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Bengal has submitted a detailed project proposal worth around Rs 1,550 crore to the Centre, with the state’s proposed contribution at Rs 610 crore. At least 45 km of riverbank has been identified for urgent erosion-control work. Bengal also needs to construct five spurs, build bank-protection structures and undertake 16 km of dredging along the right bank to reactivate a palaeochannel and direct the river towards Rajmahal in Jharkhand. He said the Union minister had directed his secretary to release Rs 500 crore for the work, subject to completion of the detailed project report and other formalities.
Nine spurs are planned along the Ganga — four in Bihar and five in Bengal, according to Nabanna sources. Patil Ji has assured to do the needful in this regard,” Adhikari said. Within two years, the changes will be visible, and within five years, you will see a ‘Sonar Bangla’ in the true sense,” he said.
The meeting of the Ganga Flood Control Commission, chaired by Union Jal Shakti minister C R Patil and attended by representatives of Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand, focused on urgent dredging across the Ganga basin and inter-state coordination to expedite erosion-control measures. Technical inputs are being sought from IIT Roorkee and IIT Kanpur. Bihar has approved the proposal. “I have sought the intervention of the minister for providing the NOC from the Jharkhand govt for facilitating this work which will curb erosion in Ratua and Manikchak. “All problems will be resolved. You will start seeing results within a year.