Farakka lock gate washed away

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Feb. 21: One of the lock gates of the Farakka Barrage Project was washed away this afternoon, making it difficult for officials there to check the flow of additional volume of water to Bangladesh. The matter came to the notice of the barrage authorities around 6.15 p.m. but they were not able to check the flow of water towards Bangladesh till the time of filing this report. Water from the Ganges is gushing out of the eastern side of the barrage which suffered the damage. Panic gripped National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) officials who were depending on the water to run their plant at Farakka. “Poor maintenance of the lock gates is responsible for this disaster,” a Farakka Barrage Project official said on the condition of anonymity. An assistant general manager of NTPC visited the site this evening to find out for himself how bad things were. Barrage Project men were on the job of repairing the lock gate till late into the night. The Project general manager, Mr MU Ghani, could not be contacted. An NTPC official said: “If the Farakka Barrage authorities fail to repair the lock gate, we will face a severe water crisis.” The Farakka Barrage was built in 1970s and more than 100 lock gates were installed to control the flow of water from India to Bangladesh.