Kolkata: Following a letter from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last month seeking money to restore river banks, the BJP-led central government on Thursday decided to allocate 60 per cent of funds under the Flood Management and Border Area Programme to prevent the ‘perpetual' erosion of the Hooghly river bank in the state.
It can be noted that the West Bengal government intends to carry out four projects costing rupees 2,478 crore, including the Ghatal Master Plan, on a priority-basis.
“Since it is not possible for a state to bear the cost alone, we had demanded the Centre to provide 75 per cent of the funds for the project with the remaining to be borne by the state,” a government official claimed.
The officials also added that the other projects include the pending work of Aila Dam in Sunderbans worth rupees 1,000 crore, allocation of around rupees 80 crore for the Kandi Master Plan and some parts of the Keleghai-Kapeshwari project, which have been estimated at rupees 160 crore.
It can be recalled that on February 21, Mamata had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over land erosion issue by banks of river Ganga in parts of the state including Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia.
In the letter, the Chief Minister also urged the Prime Minister to intervene in the issue so that flood management and restoration schemes can be started at the earliest to save lives from the disaster.
“The perpetual flood and erosion along trans-boundary rivers like Mahananda, Fulhar, Tangon, Atrayee and Purnabhava are also a major cause for erosion in 21 blocks of Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda districts of the state,” read the part of the letter.
