Identifying deposition of silt after construction of Farraka dam as the principal reason for swelling of Ganga, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the Centre’s ambitious “Namami Gange” programme would not be successful till a way was found for silt management.
“From the day of construction of Farraka dam, silt is deposited in Ganga river regularly causing flood in the river,” Kumar told a function at state Legislative Council annexe building here.
“Who benefitted from Farakka dam, only Centre would be knowing,” he said.
“Siltation in Ganga should be studied to find a solution for silt management. Till this is done, the Union government’s ambitious ‘Namami Gange’ programme would not be successful,” he added.
The Bihar CM said he told Union Home minister Rajnath Singh, who had called him up on Bihar flood situation last night, to send a team of experts to assess the situation in order to find a solution to regular swelling of Ganga river.
Bihar has always underscored on formulation of a National Silt Policy, he said at a function to launch a magazine ‘Yugantar Prakiti’ whose chief patron is Jharkhand minister Saryu Rai.
Since the inception of Ganga River Basin Authority, he had been raising the issue of siltation in Ganga river in its meeting and also at other platforms, Kumar said.
“After one of the meetings of the Authority, I had invited the then water resources minister Pawan Bansal to visit Patna to have a view of river Ganga. I had told him about siltation in Ganga from Buxar upto Farraka,” he added.
To highlight the ill effect of siltation in Ganga, the CM said the river has become shallow and in the last 10 years there has been a marked change in water current in the river.
With Ganga in spate, Kumar said the Centre should find to a solution to the problem caused by Farraka dam, which was commissioned in 1975.
