South Korean team studies Malda erosion

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Nov. 13 — Upset with the plight of the erosion-hit Malda people, a South Korean expert team, with the help of state officials, today studied the nature of the Ganga, to formulate erosion control measures on its left bank.The team also conducted an ecological study of the river for its future plan, district officials said. Officials said the South Korean experts had approached the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, for studying the river Ganga after watching reports of severe erosion and plight of the local people on various web sites. The state officials finally agreed to their proposal and instructed the district irrigation department to extend cooperation to the South Korean experts during their study of the river, including providing the required inputs. “The team may suggest a new method to control erosion here”, a senior engineer of the irrigation and waterways department said. It may be recalled that though both the Central and the state governments took the initiative and formed technical committees several times, they could not check erosion of the Ganga here. As a result, thousands of poor families have been rendered homeless since 1970. In the past five years, over 1,400 hectares of crop and homestead lands have been eroded by the river in the Manikchak, English Bazaar, Kaliachak II and III blocks.

S Korean team gives up

MALDA, Nov. 16. — The South Korean team has expressed its inability to stem erosion of the Ganga after studying the river and interacting with the local irrigation engineers. They came to study the Ganga erosion here a few days ago but after observing the river’s fury and its velocity they expressed their helplessness, saying that it is not possible for them to stop land erosion but they will find out ways to minimise it. — SNS