Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday assured that his government would implement the long-pending Ghatal Master Plan, a comprehensive flood management project aimed at providing permanent relief from the annual inundation that has plagued the area for decades.
The assurance came during an administrative review meeting held at Kolaghat, where Ghatal MP and actor Deepak 'Dev' Adhikari urged the chief minister to take up the much-awaited project.
Responding positively to the appeal, Adhikari reiterated that the implementation of the Ghatal Master Plan was among his party's electoral commitments and would be fulfilled.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Suvendu said: “Ghatal MP Dev spoke about the master plan in the meeting. I have assured him... The Ghatal Master Plan was also our poll promise, and we will fulfil it."
Dev, who has been one of the most vocal advocates of the project over the past decade, welcomed the announcement and said the chief minister had assured allocation of funds for the scheme in the budget proposals.
“I firmly believe that the work of the dream project that was started by our leader Mamata Banerjee will now be successfully completed by the current chief minister...,” the Ghatal MP said.
The administrative meeting for the districts of West Midnapore, East Midnapore and Jhargram was attended by 35 MLAs, including two from the Trinamool Congress, and four MPs, including Dev and June Malia. The next administrative meeting will be held in Malda on June 14.
Sources present at the meeting said the master plan figured prominently in the discussions, reflecting its significance as one of the most enduring demands of the people of the undivided Midnapore region.
For Dev, the project has long been a matter of political commitment as well as personal credibility. According to sources, the MP informed the meeting that since his election in 2014, he had continuously raised the issue both inside and outside Parliament. The prolonged delay in implementation had left him unable to fulfil one of his major electoral promises, prompting him at one stage to decide against contesting another election.
However, he eventually agreed to return to the electoral fray following a personal request from former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and after her government earmarked ₹500 crore for the project.
On February 12, 2024, while chairing an administrative meeting at Arambagh in Hooghly district, Mamata announced that the state government would implement the project using its own resources, alleging an inadequate response from the BJP-led central government towards executing the long-pending scheme. She reiterated that commitment during an election rally on April 26, 2024, and announced the allocation of funds. Despite those assurances, substantial progress on the ground remained elusive.
The ₹1,500-crore project has frequently become a point of political contention between the Centre and the state, with successive governments blaming each other for delays in execution. Tuesday's meeting, however, witnessed rare bipartisan convergence, with leaders from different political camps expressing support for the initiative.
The Ghatal Master Plan is a large-scale flood management project designed to address the chronic flooding that affects the Ghatal subdivision during almost every monsoon. The region suffers repeated inundation because of the overflowing waters of the Shilabati, Dwarakeswar, Jhumi and Kansabati rivers.
Officials at Nabanna said successful implementation of the project would provide permanent relief to vast stretches of the Ghatal subdivision, covering all seven Assembly segments in the Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency.
The benefits are also expected to extend beyond Ghatal. Areas such as Moyna, Nandakumar and Panskura in the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, along with Midnapore and Kharagpur Rural Assembly segments in the Midnapore Lok Sabha seat, are likely to gain significantly from improved flood control measures.
Ghatal's geographical vulnerability has long complicated the problem. The low-lying subdivision, often described as bowl-shaped, becomes easily waterlogged during the monsoon as heavily silted river channels fail to carry excess water efficiently.
The origins of the project date back nearly seven decades. In 1959, the Planning Commission of India conceived the Ghatal Master Plan following recommendations made by the Mann Singh Committee in response to demands raised by former Left MP Nikunjabihari Chowdhury. The foundation stone for the project was laid on February 10, 1982, with plans to reform 84km of river channels and strengthen or repair 118 km of embankments.
However, progress remained stalled for decades. The project was revisited by the state government in 2009 and subsequently brought under the ambit of the Ganga Flood Control Commission in 2010. In 2015, the Centre approved the project, then estimated to cost ₹1,240 crore. Yet construction never took off.
According to district administration sources, the initial proposal envisaged a 75:25 funding ratio between the Centre and the state government. However, after the BJP-led government assumed office at the Centre, the funding pattern was revised to a 50:50 sharing arrangement, a change that further complicated the project's implementation and became a major point of dispute between the two governments.