Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that the state government would implement the Ghatal Master Plan with its own resources as the Centre is yet to respond to the longstanding demand, which local MP Deepak Adhikari aka Dev tried to push in the last 10 years, of the flood-prone area.
“Dev has told me about the Ghatal Master Plan.... I have discussed the issue with the chief secretary (B.P. Gopalika) and irrigation secretary (Prabhat Mishra). We are taking up the Ghatal Master Plan,” said the chief minister during a government distribution event in Arambagh in Hooghly.
“We will not wait for the Centre to sanction funds. I am instructing the chief secretary and the irrigation secretary to prepare a detailed plan and complete the project within three to four years,” Mamata said.
The Ghatal Master Plan is a mega flood management programme to bring relief to people in the low-lying areas in and around Ghatal in West and East Midnapore.
After Trinamul came to power in 2011, the state sent the Centre a detailed project report on the Ghatal Master Plan in 2012, estimated at Rs 1,200 crore.
Initially, the Centre agreed to take up the project with a 75:25 expenditure ratio between the Centre and the state, but the funding pattern was changed to 50:50 ratio after the BJP-led NDA government came to power in 2014.
The BJP-led Centre, however, did not release anyfunds under the project till 2023, despite Dev mentioning the issue several times in Parliament.
“The Centre had informed that the project has been accorded investment clearance, but did not allot funds under the project since then,” said a source aware of the development.
At the government programme in Hooghly, Dev told the audience how he fought for the project with the Centre for 10 years.
“As the Centre did nothing for the past 10 years, I am reposing faith in the state government as well as the chief minister. I request the chief minister to do something about the project,” Dev said at the event.
The state’s decision to take up the Ghatal Master Plan assumes significance in the backdrop of murmurs that Dev, who has been the MP since 2014, was hesitant to contest the Lok Sabha polls this time as the Ghatal MasterPlan did not progress even an inch.
With this announcement, the chief minister made it clear that she would do everything to retain Dev as a Trinamul candidate from Ghatal constituency this time.
The Ghatal project is also relevant for Tamluk and Midnapore, the home turf of BJP MLA and leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and BJP MP and former president of the BJP state unit Dilip Ghosh’s constituency, respectively.
This makes Tamluk and Midnapore important constituencies for Trinamul ahead of the Lok Sabha polls at a time when the BJP is actively looking to better its tally of 18seats won in Bengal in 2019, or even double it.
“This (the state government taking over the Ghatal Master Plan) is a very tactical move (by the chief minister). This project would benefit people living in all seven assembly constituencies falling under the Ghatal Lok Sabha seat. Besides, Moyna, Nandakumar and Panskura Assembly constituencies under the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency would also benefit in addition to the Midnapore and Kharagpur Rural Assembly segments in the Midnapore Lok Sabhaconstituency. With this announcement, the chief minister has sent a strong message to resolve the longstanding issue of the area,” said a party insider.
