Bhagirathi , Pagla drown in misery

Statesman News Service

MALDA, June 20: There seem to be no takers for de-silting projects in the two tributaries of the Ganges ~ the Bhagirathi and the Pagla in Malda. It was Mr Samar Roy, the former English Bazaar MLA of the CPI-M, who put across the proposal to de-silt the Bhagirati and the Pagla. Later, even the late Congress stalwart, ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, expressed his happiness with the initiative. But now, nobody seems enthusiastic enough to implement the project. It was learnt that Mr Roy took up the river-linking project that was supposed to connect the Bhagirathi, Kalindi and Pagla with the Ganges, with the motive of developing the rural economy and setting up a water project for irrigation and drinking purposes. Ghani Khan Choudhury, who was then the minister for state irrigation and waterways, had emphasised the gravity of the river silting problem, specially in the Bhagirati. The late Congress veteran leader talked about his pet project ~ the de-silting of rivers that failed to materialise as planned. But owing to flood prevention measures and the construction of long embankments on the left side of the Ganges river, the tidal currents from the tributaries Pagla, Bhagirathi and Kalindi have been cut off at several places. This has resulted in the three tributaries ~ Pagla, Bhagirathi and Kalindi ~ getting silted. The stagnant water in these tributaries has finally been polluted and its bank has been encroached upon by the locals. Mr Samar Roy stated that his project will bring back the natural flow of water from the Ganges into the Bhagirathi, Pagla and Kalindi for agri-irrigation and other projects. But the natural link between the Ganges and its tributary Pagla have been cut off by the Farraka Barrage Project (FBP) this year to implement anti-flood measures and there is no plan to open the closed mouth of the Bhagirathi and Kalindi in the near future.