Authorities await funding approval for anti-erosion work

MALDA, 24 NOV: The irrigation department is waiting for funds to begin anti-erosion work on the banks of Fulohar at Bhaluka in Harishchandrapur. The department will soon float a tender so that the project can be delegated to a competent contractor.

The department had estimated the cost of the project to be nearly Rs 9 crore. The departments aims at completing the one km-long embankment protection work, before monsoon next year.

The objective of this scheme is to provide flood protection and this can be achieved by strengthening the embankment against severe erosion.

It may be noted that this year, a large part of Harishchandrapur and Ratua block was inundated by flood waters from the river Fulohar. During the floods, the existing embankment collapsed due to erosion and in absence of bank protection work at Bhaluka.

The district administration had sent a proposal to the state government through the Jalpaiguri divisional commissioner, requesting a grant from Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), based on an anti-erosion scheme prepared by the state irrigation department.

The executive engineer of irrigation division in Malda, Mr S Misra said: “We are waiting for the government's approval. On Friday, I spoke to my higher authorities and came to know that the scheme has been sent to Mumbai. Finally, Nabard (National bank for agriculture and rural development) will sanction funds from RIDF for this scheme”. The irrigation department has already floated a tender for the construction of an embankment, south of Bhaluka, where erosion damaged another stretch of existing embankment during the monsoon period.

Besides, the irrigation department is waiting for another approval from the central water commission (CWC), a central government organisation, for taking up 2 km long anti-erosion work at Khutadaha and Battali on the bank of the river Punarbhaba.

The objective of this project is to save agricultural land from erosion. However, because the Punarbhaba river flows through India as well as Bangladesh, while working on the embankments, special care has to be taken to make them especially strong so that the barbed wires, which signify the international border between the two neighbouring countries, are not affected during floods. In addition, the embankment has to be built at a safe distance from the barbed wires.