West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Monday that he will visit Delhi on Tuesday for talks on Ganga erosion in Malda district, which has displaced many people, as the state presses for urgent steps to check the river eating into its banks.

Source: PTI

Adhikari made the remarks at the state government's scaled-down Bijoya Sammilani at Milan Mela in Kolkata. He said the Centre and the Bihar government had already been informed, and that inadequate dredging had worsened the situation. Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia remain vulnerable to erosion, he said.

Source: PTI

16 kmDredging cleared by Bihar NOC
3Districts named vulnerable — Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia
2018Year of the erosion agreement Adhikari says was not fulfilled

Rivers 'dangerously close' in Malda

Explaining the urgency, Adhikari said a high-level team led by the Chief Secretary conducted a site visit on Sunday and observed that the Phulwar and the Ganga had come dangerously close in Malda. The Chief Secretary, who has visited the affected areas, will also attend the meeting in Delhi, and Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal have been invited to the meeting.

Source: ANI

Adhikari said the agreement reached in 2018 involving the West Bengal government, the Inland Waterways Authority, NTPC and the Farakka Barrage had not been fulfilled. He stressed the need for a specific plan to address erosion across the entire region stretching from Malda to Nadia, pointing out that the proposed plan was still awaiting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Jharkhand, while Bihar has already granted its NOC for 16 kilometres of dredging.

Source: ANI

"That is why I will be holding a meeting tomorrow; a permanent solution must be found," Adhikari said, adding that the Delhi meeting would focus on finding a lasting solution to the erosion problem.

Source: ANI