Min: Ghatal Master Plan to be implemented in Feb 2025
Times of India | 12 December 2024
12 Kolkata: The Rs 1,238-crore Ghatal Master Plan will be implemented in Feb 2025, said state minister Manas Ranjan Bhunia in the assembly on Wednesday. Bhunia added that GMP would be a symbol of how Centre's stepmotherly attitude prompted CM Mamata Banerjee to take it upon herself to complete the project out of the state exchequer.
In 1959, West Bengal Flood Enquiry Committee head Sardar Man Singh had first proposed Ghatal Master Plan. It took 20 years for Planning Commission to give the GMP its nod. In 1982, the foundation stone was laid and Rs 50 crore was allocated for the project.
Bhunia, the state irrigation, waterways, and water resources investigation and development minister, said the project would benefit as many as 10 lakh people spread across 657 sq km of area in eight blocks — Chandrakona I & II, Daspur I & II, Ghatal, Debra, Panskura, Moyna, Kolaghat. He said that his department had already restored some canals, which were part of the project, by spending Rs 341.5 crore.
Ghatal is situated in one of the country's most flood-prone zones. Located about 120 km from Kolkata, the Ghatal sub-division lies in the lower reaches of the Chota Nagpur Plateau's Shilabati and Jhumi river catchment area. Every monsoon, boats, rafts and canoes replace traffic in the area. Crops are damaged, people are left homeless.
"Centre has kept mum despite a series of representations from the state and repeated reference to the problem of lakhs of people mentioned by our MP Dev in Parliament. Finally, our CM emerged as the rescuer by promising to do it from the state budget despite a serious financial crunch," Bhunia said. "There are multiple DPRs and surveys which will all end shortly. The CM has already formed a monitoring committee under my chairmanship."
The BJP-led opposition, however, raised a significant omission in the committee. While it has a former MLA of Ghatal, current MLA Sital Kapat has not been included. LoP Suvendu Adhikari said, "The Ghatal Master Plan is being implemented, but Ghatal's MLA is not included in the committee. People are seeing everything, and they will respond at the right time."
Bhunia responded: "He (Kapat) does not work for the area. Moreover, despite being a BJP MLA, he failed to secure funds from Centre for GMP. That is why he was not included in the committee."
In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Dev had contemplated quitting politics, unable to get the project on track. CM Banerjee and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had announced that if Centre didn't fund the project, the state would fund it.
Dev, interestingly, was born in 1982, the year the GMP foundation stone was laid.