Kolkata: The West Bengal Irrigation Department has embarked on an innovative project in India around the rejuvenation of drying canals and other water bodies.
According to Dr Manas Bhuniya, Irrigation Minister, West Bengal, for the first time in India, a state will not spend a single rupee from its treasury for the rejuvenation of water bodies.
Instead, the contractors and organizations who are involved in the project will have to compensate the government monetarily for the amount of soil and landfill that they are extracting.
While to date, the state was spending on an average around Rs 500 crore for this work, now, onwards the government could earn a minimum of Rs 500 crore yearly through this exercise.
The Irrigation Minister today cited the example of a pilot project of this initiative conducted in the Purba Medinipur district. A total of 28 canals and water bodies spanning 180 km in the district were recently rejuvenated, through which the state earned Rs 112 crore.
Accordingly, from now onwards, the District Magistrates will invite tenders themselves for reclamation and rejuvenation work of water bodies. Out of the participants in the tender, the organization that can pay the maximum for the alluvial soil and landfill will bag the contract.
In many cases, this soil is used in brick kilns. Hence, brick kiln owners will.be officially requested to participate in these tender processes. While this will increase the depth of the water bodies, it will help the organizations to better use the extracted soil.
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