West Bengal state irrigation and waterways department has undertaken a new cost effective model to dredge the rivers and canals to ensure that flood impacts get minimised in the coming monsoon, said irrigation minister Wednesday.
The model will allow agencies to dredge the silted rivers and canals without any cost to the government and it will bring revenue to the government exchequer, claimed minister Manas Bhuniya.
The agencies will use the mix of mud and fine sand commercially, which will be different from the usual sand block selling; informed the irrigation department.
Earlier, minister Bhuniya, additional chief secretary Manish Jain and MD, West Bengal Mineral Development Corporation Limited P. Mohan Gandhi held a video meeting with all district magistrates to set the project rolling.
They are slated to identify the moribund canals and silted river portions for the 'no cost to state exchequer' desilting model, which the minister claims to be an unique one.
"Under the chief minister's advice, we have finalised this unique model which will not only cut our expenditure, but will allow us to generate revenue" said Bhuniya. He claimed that already 28 canals, spread over 180 km, have been identified which are expected to generate 112 crores. "Though no target is fixed , I expect at least 500 crores to be generated annually.”
"Though we do not know how the weather will behave in this era of climate change but I expect such widespread dredging catered by the model , will reduce the risk of flood in the next monsoon," said Bhuniya to the Telegraph online.
In the last 15 years, about 226 km of drainage canals and rivers were excavated with an estimated cost of 500 crores, which is expected to be reduced if the introduced model works on ground.
The department claimed that they have not received any funds from the union government for dredging since 2016.
The state has often claimed that the Damodar Valley Corporation releasing huge quantities of water without prior appropriate intimation adds to the flood risk.
Secretary Jain said that the repair to Durgapur barrage would also start soon. "As per instruction of the honourable chief minister , we have decided to implement the work soon before the onset of full monsoon" stated Jain adding that the appropriate traffic diversion model has also been finalised as 26,000 vehicles cross the barrage every day.
The minister claimed that the on ground implementation of Ghatal master plan has started, but admitted that problems remain with the availability of land linked to the project.