Budget: Bengal govt launches new scheme ‘Nodi Bandhan’; Rs 500 cr for Ghatal Master Plan

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government in the state Budget allocated funds of Rs 500 crore for the implementation of the Ghatal Master Plan project.

State Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya while presenting the Budget announced the additional funds. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee later told the media during a press conference that the state government has already spent Rs 340 crore for the project.

Banerjee also stated that the state government will have to bear a total cost of Rs 1,500 crore for implementing the Ghatal Master Plan project.

The state government has announced a new scheme “Nodi Bandhan”, which will “entail interconnecting of rivers and wetlands which will stimulate multiple livelihood options for the people.” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while speaking to the media said that the project will check natural calamities.

State government has allocated funds of Rs 200 crore for the preparation of sub-basin-wise plans involving international experts, Finance minister Bhattacharya said while presenting the budget. Around Rs 500 crore have been allotted for constructing Ganga Sagar Setu.

The Mamata Banerjee government is keen on completing the Ghatal Master Plan on a war footing. The state government is hopeful of completing the project by March 2028. The Ghatal Master Plan is a mega project envisaged back in 1959 to save the low-lying areas in and around Ghatal, located at the base of the Chota Nagpur Plateau, from the annual flood.

The overflowing waters of the rainfed rivers like Silabati, Damodar, Rupnarayan and Dwarakeshwar, originating in the plateau, inundate a large number of villages every monsoon, destroying crops and displacing people.

The people of Ghatal have been reeling under flood almost every year. State government has taken up the project on its own after the Centre refused to implement it.