The West Bengal government has announced Rs 1,200 crore for the Ghatal Master Plan, a flood-prevention project aimed at addressing the recurring floods and river erosion affecting Ghatal and parts of the Medinipur region. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the project would be taken up immediately after Durga Puja, with a major portion targeted for completion by June next year, before the arrival of the monsoon.
Adhikari made the announcement on Wednesday while addressing a gathering at Birsingha in Ghatal, Paschim Medinipur district, after paying tributes to educationist and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar on his 207th birth anniversary. The Chief Minister said the allocation had been made for the current financial year and that the Central Government would provide half of the funds.
“The Central Government will provide 50 per cent of these funds, and the remainder will be borne by the state. We will also receive some funds from the Disaster Management Department to acquire land for the master plan,” Adhikari said, according to the report. He directed local legislators to ensure that work on the plan moved quickly.
The Ghatal region is flooded every year, and the government has described the master plan as an attempt to provide a permanent solution to long-standing flooding and erosion problems. The announcement also links the project to land acquisition, which is expected to be supported partly through funds from the Disaster Management Department. Further details on the project’s engineering components, land requirement, tendering process and implementing agencies were not provided in the announcement.
Adhikari said work would begin on a “war footing” after Durga Puja and set June next year as the deadline for completing a major portion of the project. That timeline places implementation ahead of the next monsoon, although the announcement did not specify the milestones to be completed by then or the precise areas that would be covered first.
The Chief Minister also spoke about the wider development of Birsingha and nearby public infrastructure. He said the government planned to develop the village as a destination for tourists and researchers, including a museum at a local library, cottages for researchers, accommodation for tourists, a community hall, new roads and solar lighting. The local health centre and libraries would also be improved, he said.
The flood announcement came alongside remarks on child marriage, underage pregnancy and education in West Bengal. Adhikari attributed the state’s reported challenges in these areas to the previous government’s policies and cited figures that he said showed 60,000 institutional deliveries involving girls below 18 between January 1 and June 30. These claims were part of the Chief Minister’s speech and were not accompanied by supporting documents in the supplied report.
For Ghatal residents, the immediate test will be whether the announced funding translates into land acquisition, project mobilisation and visible flood-control work before the next monsoon. The government’s stated next step is to begin work after Durga Puja and complete a major portion of the Ghatal Master Plan by June next year.
