Kolkata Feb 25: The West Bengal irrigation department’s
ambitious R148 crore for flood control in north Bengal
has got stuck as the Union government is yet to release the required funds for
the project.
Sources from the state irrigation department said that although
a report prepared jointly by the irrigation department and North Bengal Flood
Control Commission (NBFCC) was presented to Brahmaputra Board way back in
September 2012 there has been absolutely no progress in getting a single penny
for the project.
“As per the initial discussions on this issue, Brahmaputra Board
was supposed to release R40 crore in the first phase by November 2012, but even
after lapse of five months, we are yet to receive the amount. Hence, we could
not make any progress in the project. We expected to finish a substantial pat
of the project before the commencement of monsoon. But since the basic
requirement, that is funds, is still uncertain, we doubt that we would not able
to start the work before the commencement of monsoon,” a sources in the state
irrigation department said.
Heal so said that the matter would be raised in the coming
meeting of Brahmaputra Board scheduled on February 28, 2013.
Brahmaputra Board, an autonomous body under the Union ministry
of water resources, is entrusted with the task of preparing master plans for
the control of funds and bank erosion and improvement of drainage in the Brahmaputra Valley
Sources from the state irrigation department said had the
proposed flood control project received the funds it would have brought the
flood problem in north Bengal under control to
a great extent.
The assignments under the project involved repairs of banks of
different rivers in north Bengal , besides
adopting other flood control measures.
“Several times, we have written to Brahmaputra Board, for quick
sanction of funds. But every time, what we got is only assurance. Nor we had
been given any explanation on why there is delay in sanction of funds,” a state
irrigation department official said.
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