The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has constituted a high-power committee to find out a permanent solution to the Ganga’s erosion in Malda and Murshidabad districts, said a senior official of the Farakka Barrage Project Authority here on Sunday.
“A committee was recently constituted by the Centre to explore solutions to the Ganga’s erosion. River experts, representatives of the central river commission and the Union water resource ministry, the chief engineer of the state irrigation department and officials of the barrage authority have been included in it,” R.D. Deshpande, the general manager of the FBPA, said.
He was here to attend a seminar organised by the Ganga Bhangan Pratirodh Action Committee (GBPAC) and the Jana Andolan, a Calcutta-based social organisation, at Town Hall.
In Malda and Murshidabad, Ganga has been gobbling land, houses and other properties for years. Hundreds of people have become homeless because of the erosion on either bank of the river.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had recently accused the Centre of not doing enough to stem the erosion.
At Sunday’s seminar, around 500 erosion victims were present. Those representing the social organisations have said as the Ganga is the national river, the Centre must shoulder the responsibility of taking up the anti-erosion work.