‘Mamata writes to Modi on Ganga erosion

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern over the continuous erosion along the Ganga in Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia districts and urged him to look into the issue so that flood management and restoration schemes can be carried out in earnest to save lives and livelihood from disaster.

Banerjee also sought reconsideration of the Centre’s decision in 2017 to withdraw the extended jurisdiction of Farakka Barrage Project Authority (FBPA) for protection of the river bank from further erosion.

The erosion has caused loss of thousands of square kilometres of land, she said in her letter dated February 21 which was made available to the media on Tuesday.

The chief minister said that perpetual flood and erosion along trans-boundary rivers like Mahananda, Fulhar, Tangon, Atrayee and Purnabhava are also a major cause for erosion in 21 blocks of Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda districts of the state.

She said that erosion along the Ganga for the past two decades after the construction of Farakka barrage have led to loss of public utilities, private properties and agricultural land.

”There has been adverse impact on Ganga-Padma erosion in context of the Indo-Bangladesh Ganga Treaty of 1996, both downstream and upstream of Farakka, in the districts of Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia,” she wrote.

Almost 2,800 hectares of fertile land have been engulfed by the river and there have been damage to public and private properties to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore during the last 15 years, her letter said.

Banerjee urged the PM to ”have the matter looked into seriously so that flood management and restoration schemes can be carried out in the right earnest to save lives and livelihood from disaster.” A bilateral treaty was signed between India and Bangladesh in December, 1996, establishing a 30-year water-sharing arrangement.

Banerjee said that the erstwhile ministry of water resources had in 2005 extended the jurisdiction of FBPA from 40 km upstream of the barrage to 80 km downstream for taking up anti-erosion and river bank protection work in the entire stretch. But the body did not address the problem of river erosion adequately in the extended jurisdiction of 120 km.

The water resources ministry had in July 2017 unilaterally withdrawn its 2005 decision and restored the original jurisdiction of FBPA from 11.5 km upstream to 5.9 km downstream of Farakka barrage, she said and urged the prime minister to reconsider it ”so as to fulfil the earlier commitment of the central government and arrange for taking up urgent bank protection schemes in the entire stretch of the extended jurisdiction by FBPA in consultation with the state government.” Stating that her August, 2017 letter to the prime minister seeking restoration of the extended jurisdiction did not elicit any response, Banerjee said that the state had to take up urgent bank protection work over the last four years at a cost of Rs 168.47 crore. Another Rs 80.67 crore was spent after the 2021 monsoon for anti-erosion work in 9.9 km along the river. Maintaining that this expenditure will not suffice since as per the latest assessment 37 locations along the river in a stretch of 28.80 km are vulnerable and require immediate attention, she said ”The concomitant expenditure for river bank protection would be to the tune of Rs 571 crore.” Stating that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the state government to arrange for funds required for new bank protection work, the chief minister said that the matter was raised during a visit by Bengal’s ministers to the union Jal Shakti minister on August 31, 2021, but no response has yet been received.