A three-year wait for clearance from the Narendra Modi government for a bridge to connect Gadkhali and Gosaba in South 24-Parganas has become a major issue in the Gosaba bypoll on October 30.

The proposed bridge over the confluence of four rivers, Durgaduani, Hogol, Vidyadhari and Kartoa is expected to overhaul the socio-economic scenario in remote Sunderbans. Right now, it takes around 30 minutes to cross the confluence of four rivers and reach Gosaba from Gadkhali. Once the bridge gets constructed, travel time will be cut down to three minutes.

The bypoll in Gosaba was necessitated as victorious Trinamul MLA Jayanta Naskar died of Covid in June this year. Naskar had defeated his closest rival, Barun Pramanik of the BJP, by over 23,000 votes.

This time, Trinamul’s Subrata Mondal is pitted against the BJP’s Palash Rana.

In October 2018, the Bengal government had planned to build a 1km bridge to connect Gadkhali and Gosaba. The public works department of the state government had sanctioned Rs 285 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal to the Sunderbans affairs department, which is the implementing authority of the project. Preliminary work started to build the bridge. However, a critical component to implement the project is awaited — getting clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests — as the site of the bridge falls within Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).

The notification for CRZ rules was issued by the Union ministry of environment and forests in February 1991 to regulate activities in coastal areas. Under it, coastal land up to 500m from high tide line and 100m from the banks of creeks, lagoons, estuaries, backwaters and rivers subject to tidal fluctuations are earmarked under CRZ.

Hence, without central nod, the work to build the bridge could not be started although the Mamata Banerjee government sanctioned Rs 285 crore for it three years ago. .

“The latest communication with the Centre on this vital bridge happened in July after I took oath as minister. The BJP-led government is doing what they do for other projects in Bengal, delaying its nod,” said Bankim Hazra, the Sunderbans affairs minister.

This alleged central indifference has become the focal theme of Trinamul’s campaign in the Gosaba by-poll.

“The state government has sanctioned funds for it but the BJP is making the people of Gosaba suffer by sitting on a crucial permission. We are telling people how they are being deprived,” said Trinamul candidate Mondal.

BJP’s Rana countered this charge. “There are conditions and the state government needs to fulfil those (before getting the Centre’s permission). The problem is that Trinamul is trying to misguide the people of Gosaba on this issue with an eye on the bypoll,” said Rana but could not elaborate on the conditions.

District officials said the bridge would help provide better and faster health care services to people of Gosaba.

“We need to wait for a trawler to carry emergency patients or pregnant women who need to be shifted to a sub-divisional hospital in Canning. During low tide, boats can’t operate properly and patients have to wait for as long as an hour for the high tide. With the bridge, patients can be transferred to Canning in ambulances within a few minutes,” said Indranil Bargi, the block medical officer of health in Gosaba.

This apart, policing in the remote islands would become easier once the link comes into operation. At present, police use boats to reach far-off islands in Gosaba but the bridge will help cops to travel in vehicles.

“Now, we send forces in advance to tackle situations like cyclones. The bridge will help us to communicate with the islands easily,” said Vaibhav Tiwari, the Baruipur police superintendent under whose jurisdiction Gosaba falls.