MALDA, 23 JUNE: The irrigation department in Malda has finally taken up repair work on a 1.5 km long dwarf embankment on the left bank of the river Ganga in Kaliachak II for flood protection. A total of Rs 1.5 lakh has been allotted for this work.
It may be noted that in the absence of a ninth retired embankment - which was proposed three years ago but is yet to built due to protest by villagers - the dwarf embankment is the last defence line of flood protection in the erosion prone zone at Panchanandapur and Sakurullahapur zone in Kaliachak II.
The irrigation officials fear that if the monsoon comes in this week the repairing and strengthening work will be hampered because it is completely an ‘earth work'. “Rain will damage and wash away new soil to be dumped on the present layer,” they said.
The executive engineer of the irrigation department in Malda, Mr Soumen Misra, said: “Before the general election we sent a proposal to the district administration requesting them to take up the work through a scheme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The district or block administration can take up jobs under the NREGA after the election notification, but still nothing has been done.”
“We could not take up the job due to the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct for the general election and so decided to propose to the administration to repair and strengthen the dwarf embankment under the NREGA. Our engineers agreed to provide technical support to the block authorities for this job,” Mr Misra disclosed.
“Finally, I was forced to give a work order to contractors on Friday to do the job,” he said. Besides, the irrigation department has taken up an emergency project for the construction of another dwarf embankment at the confluence point of the Ganga and Kosi rivers at Kesharpur in Bhutni Diara, an island, under Manikchak block.
“If the present circuit embankment located at Kesharpur is eroded away in the coming monsoon, we will have to build another 300m long dwarf embankment to stem the flood water. At present, the distance between the bank line and the present circuit embankment is nearly 50m at Kesharpur point,” said Mr Misra. ;SNS
No comments:
Post a Comment