Cell to monitor floods in Malda

Statesman News Service

MALDA, July 11: The Malda district administration has decided to open a flood control room at the block level. Mr Chittaranjan Das, DM, Malda, said that if the flood hits the district, the control room or information network, as it has been called, would help to provide relief to the victims. The DM recently held a meeting with the officials and public representatives on flood management. The district has not received sufficient rainfall so far this year. It usually receives an average of 1400 mm of rainfall each year. On the other hand, there is no embankment on the left side of the river Ganges in Kaliachak II and there may be a chance of flood if the water level of the Ganges crosses the danger level of 25.30 m. The DM has also reviewed the progress of the anti-erosion work on the left bank of the Ganges. The work was carried out by the Farraka Barrage Project, a Central government unit. A senior engineer of the FBM has been inducted in the flood monitoring committee of the district along with the other state irrigation officials. After attending a meeting with other engineers on 7 July, the superintending engineer, north circle division of the state I&W, Mr NC Kar, said: “Based on hydrology and flood estimation, we have come to a conclusion that the possibility of a devastating flood like the one in 1998 that killed hundreds of people, is minimum this year.” Mr Kar also said that in 1998, over 27 lakh cusecs of water passed through the Ganges when the water level of the Ganges was 26.565 m, just one metre above the extreme danger level, at Manikchak. “Everything depends on the rainfall in the upper catchment areas,” Mr Kar cautioned. He also said that the average bank level on the left bank of the Ganges in Kaliachak II is 24.00 m. When the Ganges starts receiving nearly 12 lakh cusecs of water, the mighty river may break its left bank and inundate a part of the Kaliachak block areas, officials feared.