Erosion Along The Banks Of The Ganga

[suchandra]

<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="90%"><tbody><tr><td background="http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/images/headhline.gif" width="93"></td> <td background="http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/images/headhline.gif"> </td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> <tr align="left"> <td> Trinamul blames govt for river erosion

Sujoy Singh Roy

 

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=22&theme=&usrsess=1&id=200903KRISHNAGAR, April 23: Less than a month before the panchayat elections begin, the Nabadwip block Trinamul Congress has decided to focus on the issue of erosion along the banks of the Ganga.

To register their outrage against the state's inaction in checking river erosion, the Nabadwip Trinamul Congress blocked Nabadwip road on Sunday morning and also stopped the Shantipur-Nabadwip toy train at Maheshganj near Nabadwip.

Mr Pundarikakha Saha, Trinamul MLA from Nabadwip, said: “Irrigation minister Mr Subhash Naskar as well as finance minister Mr Asim Dasgupta visited Nabadwip in August 2006 to gather information on river erosion problems in Nabadwip. They gave several assurances and promised money for repair schemes. Finally a sum of Rs 8 crore was allotted to create embankments last year. But we have yet to witness any work being done. This government is not paying any attention to the problems of Nabadwip constituency, as it belongs to the Trinamul Congress.”

The state had initiated modern technologies using geo-synthetic mattresses for the embankment process but the project is heading for failure due to the lack of proper planning and installation of the technology.

Asked about the matter, Mr Nani Pal, a member of the embankment beneficiary committee and an experienced senior citizen of Nabadwip, said: “Erosion of the banks of the Ganga is not a new problem for Nabadwip ~ the situation has worsened over the last two-and-a-half decades. From 1984, erosion became prominent in Nabadwip. About 10 acres of land was washed away from the Radrapara area near Prachin Mayapur.”

Mr Bidyut Baran Bhowmik, councilor of ward number 21 of the Nabadwip Municipality, which is the most-affected area, said: “There were two schools in my ward ~ the Buniyadi Primary School and the Upajati Primary School ~ which have gone completely under the river. The geo-synthetic mattresses that were installed have been totally spoilt in the flood last year and locals have also stolen a large part of it due to lack of proper vigilance.”

Mr Supratim Roy, the sub-divisional officer of the Irrigation Department, said: “A length of about 1,000 meters by the river Ganges had been sanctioned for embankment purpose. Of this, the Zilla Parishad was assigned 600 meters, while the rest was assigned to the State Irrigation Department.” He added: “It has been found that the part of the project that was assigned to the Zilla Parishad has been wrecked completely while the 400 meters repaired by the Irrigation department remains intact.”

Mr Roy cited two reasons for the washout. “Firstly, due to a large amount of silt deposition in the Ganges, the river is changing its course, leading to extensive erosion in Nabadwip. Secondly, there were some defects in the construction of the embankment, which is leading to its collapse.”

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