Farakka Barrage takes severe revenge on indian hindooz
VognoDuut792
the arithmetic of the Ganga. The extra water flow induced by the barrage
downstream has not been able to prevent the steady accumulation of sediment.
"The sedimentation in the estuary continues unabated," says his report.
Farakka barrage worsens land erosion, driving Ganga
NEW DELHI, Sept. 4:-The Farakka barrage across the Ganga has worsened land
erosion, failed to clear mounting sediment downstream, and is now driving
the Ganga off course, says a new report on the fate of the river, reports
BSS.
While erosion and shifting channels are anticipated in delta regions, the
report says the Farakka barrage appears to have been constructed without
regard to the natural behaviour of river water in the Gangetic delta, The
Telegraph, Kolkata said in a report on Friday last.
The report, published by the Centre for Development and Environment at the
Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, also says the state and the
central governments have been investing in expensive but superficial and
ineffective engineering measures to prevent erosion along the banks of the
river.
"The Farakka project was built at a huge expenditure, but it has failed to
achieve its objectives," says Kalyan Rudra, a member of the national flood
management core group and author of the report.
The barrage, constructed during the 1960s and commissioned in 1975, was
intended to channel extra water into the Bhagirathi- Hooghly river to flush
the sediment load downstream and keep navigational channels free from silt.
But Rudra says those who conceived and designed the barrage miscalculated
the arithmetic of the Ganga. The extra water flow induced by the barrage
downstream has not been able to prevent the steady accumulation of sediment.
"The sedimentation in the estuary continues unabated," says his report.
The report also warns that the Ganga annually carries more than 700
million tonnes of sediment at Farakka, of which about 300 million tonnes
gets trapped in a barrage pond. This is driving the river to change course.
"The river may outflank the barrage and open a new channel for its water
through the distributary called the Pagla, which joins the Mahananda," says
Rudra.
He cites an unpublished report of the state irrigation department that
points out that the "continued swing of the river Ganga on the left bank in
the district of Malda upstream of the Farakka barrage is not only eroding
densely populated villages, fertile cultivable lands, roads and
communication systems. but also holds the possibility of the Farakka barrage
being outflanked by the Ganga.
In September 2005, the Ganga at Panchanandapur encroached about 500 metres
and breached the embankment over Pagla and swallowed two villages -
Ramlaltola and Bihartola. Protective measures had failed to protect the
bank.
Rudra says the water level of the Ganga at Panchanandapur was below the
danger level. Had it crossed that mark, the Ganga would have opened an
outlet outflanking the Farakka barrage and delinked the main communication
lines between north and south Bengal.
"This new analysis highlights the limitations of traditional engineering
and the need for new approaches that take into account ecology and
hydrology," says Jayanta Bandopadhyay, head of the Centre for Development
and Environment at IIMC.
Torpedo
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