A nine-member team comprising Bengal ministers, and Trinamul MPs and MLAs on Tuesday sad they had elicited a positive response from Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat and NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar who they met to ask for funds for Ghatal master plan and four other schemes, including restoration of the cyclone-hit Sunderbans and Digha.
“The meeting was positive as both the Union minister and NITI Aayog assured that they would provide funds for the Ghatal master plan. They also asked us to submit a detailed project report on the Sunderbans and Digha masterplans, both brainchild of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. We also asked the Centre to fix a compensation package for the people who lost their houses to Ganga erosion,” said Bengal minister Manas Ranjan Bhuniya, a member of the team, from New Delhi.
Bhuniya apart, state irrigation minister Saumen Mahapatra, MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, MP Dipak Adhikari (Dev), ministers of state Humayun Kabir and Srikanta Mahato were among those who attended the meeting with Shekhawat and NITI Aayog officials.
The visit took place following Mamata’s statement earlier this month that she would send a team to Delhi to push the Centre to release funds for Ghatal master plan and other schemes. Mamata had said she had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times seeking funds for the Ghatal master plan to no avail.
The Ghatal master plan is a cluster of projects that includes the dredging and widening of riverbeds, strengthening of embankments, and widening of the confluences of at least 10 large rivers, including the Kansabati, Rupnarayan and Shilabati in addition to around 40 channels and sub-channels that cross the twin Midnapores.
In 2012, the state government sent to Delhi a detailed project report of the plan, estimated at Rs 1,200 crore, and received administrative and financial approvals from the Narendra Modi government in 2015. The Centre had agreed to pitch in 75 per cent of the project cost but later reduced it to 50 per cent. No money was sent. The state government dredged a large part of the Durbachati, Khiraibaksi and New Koshi rivers using its own funds.
“We are very hopeful that the Centre will now give the money for the project... let us see what happens,” said Mahapatra, the state irrigation minister.
Bhuniya said apart from Ghatal the team also raised the issue of rehabilitation of people affected by Ganga erosion.
“There is a government policy to support people affected by cyclones, floods or other disasters. However, there is no policy for those who are affected by Ganga erosion mainly in districts like Malda and Murshidabad in Bengal. I have asked the government to bring in a specific policy (for such calamities),” said Bhuniya.
