Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask him to put up a realistic plan to stop the “massive erosion” of the Ganga and Fulhar rivers’ banks in various districts.
In a letter, the CM said, “The extent of erosion is so severe that the distance between the two banks of the rivers — Ganga and Fulhar — has come down to only 1.5 km at Billaimari village in Malda district’s Manikchak block, from an earlier distance of 4 km that was recorded in 2004. This is posing a serious threat to the people of adjoining villages as well as the National Highway 131-A.”
Banerjee referred to a letter she had previously sent to the Central government, dated February 21, 2022, in which she highlighted, among other things, the serious erosion risk posed by the Ganga-Padma river system in the districts of Malda, Murshidabad, and Nadia and asked them to reinstate the Farakka Barrage project’s expanded jurisdiction. Regarding the issues raised, the Union Jal Shakti Ministry has responded.
It’s true that the main reason the Farakka barrage was built by the Central government was to divert 40,000 cusecs of Ganga water to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system in order to keep Kolkata Port navigable, she continued. However, this has caused the riverbed to silt, especially upstream of the barrage, which has caused spilling and flooding in the nearby areas. She stated that despite numerous obstacles, the state government had taken some immediate bank protection measures independently at 31 identified vulnerable stretches (for a total of Rs 168 crore).