Indo-Bangla engineers’ meet on border embankment

Indo-Bangla engineers’ meet on border embankment

15 January 2013

SILIGURI, 15 JAN: Engineers associated with Bangladesh Water Board (BWB) may visit Kayetbari, a village at Sitai in Cooch Behar along India-Bangladesh border, in the third week of January to hold a meeting with Indian officials. The objective of the Bangladesh officials’ visit is to pacify villagers in Bangladesh part so that the state irrigation and waterways department can carry out proposed flood protection work on the bank of river Ratnai in Indian part along the border.

The Chairman of North Bengal Flood Control Commission (NBFCC), Mr N C Chatterjee, attended the meeting on behalf of India with BWB Chief Engineer SA Ali and adopted resolutions to carry out the work for both the countries along the border. Mr Ali yesterday visited Kuchlibari area under Mekhliganj in Cooch Behar and held a meeting with Indian officials to oversee the proposed flood and erosion protection work there following resolutions adopted by Indo-Bangladesh Joint River Commission.

“It was decided at a meeting yesterday that officials from Bangladesh Water Board would visit Kayetbari at Sitai in the third week of January to appease the villagers on Bangladesh side so that we can carry out the flood and erosion protection works,” Mr Chatterjee said.

According to official sources, representatives of both the countries have agreed to resolve any crisis or dispute due to villagers’ resistance during construction work through flag meeting at border outposts.

The Indian officials, including the Border Security Forces (BSF), have stressed the need to protect IBB (India-Bangladesh Border) road and fencing from erosion. It was decided that in order to prevent flood by the Teesta river, both the countries would construct ‘spill checking’ embankments, from pillar No 795/5, at zero point of the border.

The state irrigation and waters department would immediately construct a 300-metre long spill checking embankment up to the existing embankment on Bangladesh side on the left bank of the Teesta at Kuchlibari. sns