Housing project on wetland

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Dec. 27. — The Malda district officials and political leaders visited ‘Chatrabil’ a wet-land area at the English Bazaar town on Sunday, with an aim of setting up a housing project on it, after draining away all water. The English Bazaar civic body has taken the responsibility of launching the programme, before starting the water-drainage work. A draft prepared for the setting up a housing estate project for all the sections, encompasses plans of acquiring lands surrounding the wet land area, so that the housing projects can be monitored properly. Owing to congestion of waterways in the wetlands, flowing towards Bangladesh earlier, huge water discharged by the locals and has resulted in expansion of the wetlands in last 30 years, submerging many cultivable land. “A pond will be dug in the centre of the wetland for water storage, re-defining it back into its earlier shape”, informed an MLA of the English Bazaar town. Housing project will be constructed in the periphery areas of the pond, said Mr Samar Roy, an MLA. The district magistrate has expressed his interest in the proposed scheme. A group of irrigation engineers first visited the site to make the required for the project planning. It may be noted that over 200 families depend on the wetland for fishing. In the northern regions of the wetlands, many people have even built their houses and grown crops in the land of Chatrabil. #