The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started restoring the Jalangi river’s stretch at Krishnanagar in Nadia district by removing concrete blocks and sludge from the riverbed, succumbing to the demand of fishermen and nature care organisations who have been fighting for the revival of the waterbody.

The Jalangi, which joins the Bhagirathi river that flows into the Hooghly, was partially blocked for the construction of a bridge — the new version of the Dwijendralal Setu — at Krishnanagar when a project to widen NH12 from Krishnanagar to Boro Jagulia was being executed.

The NHAI held its construction agency responsible for the damage and said the final bill would not be cleared until the river was reclaimed at Krishnanagar. The NHAI took up the much-awaited four-laning of the 64km stretch of NH12 in October 2019. It entrusted Gurugram-based KCC Buildcon Private Limited to execute the Rs 1,113 crore project, which included the bridge over the Jalangi.

The construction firm allegedly used concrete blocks and 23,000 cubic metres of earth to fill up the river so that cranes could easily access the riverbed to launch the concrete girders and rest them on the piers of the bridge.

The bridge was completed and the widened stretch of the highway was also opened for traffic a few months ago. Nevertheless, as the river’s flow was blocked, a few thousand people who lived alongside the Jalangi and earned their living by fishing suffered. People of the Natuan Sambhunagar and Ruipukur areas of Krishnanagar began an agitation last year after repeated pleas to restore the river failed to yield any response from the NHAI authorities.

Subsequently, voluntary organisations like Jalangi Nadi Samaj and Anjana Nadi Bachao Committee joined the movement. However, little could be achieved until the last week of June when members of the Jalangi Nadia Samaj gheraoed the NHAI’s project office in Krishnanagar.

In the face of the agitation, the authorities issued a written undertaking that the restoration of the river would start immediately. On Thursday, the agency engaged earthmovers to remove the sludge and concrete slabs from the river.

According to the decision adopted during the meeting with the fishermen and the organisations, construction agency KCC Buildcon would clear the riverbed up to 20 feet and wouldn't dump the removed earth and debris on the riverbank.

NH Krishnanagar project director Amit Kumar Singh admitted that the construction firm had violated the River Act and the Aquatic Biodiversity Act. “According to the work order, it was the agency’s responsibility to restore the river bed. The restoration should have been carried out at least three months ago.”