State committed to save Kapil Muni Ashram from erosion: Min

Kolkata: The state government is committed to save the Kapil Muni Ashram at Gangasagar from erosion at any cost and ensure that lakhs of pilgrims who come for the holy dip during the Gangasagar Mela in January every year are not inconvenienced by any means.

“Instructed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, all stakeholders at the administrative level visited the site of the fair and held discussions on the measures that can be taken to combat erosion. Our first priority is to ensure that pilgrims do not face any inconvenience when they come for the Gangasagar Mela in January. The Chief Minister has applied for UNESCO’s intangible heritage tag for Gangasagar Mela and our government is committed to save Kapli Muni Ashram from erosion at any cost,” Partha Bhowmick, state Irrigation and Waterways minister said.

Apart from Bhowmick, state Sundarban Affairs minister Bankim Chandra Hazra, District Magistrate South 24-Parganas Sumit Gupta, Principal Secretary of Irrigation department Prabhat Mishra, MLA Patharpratima Samir Jana among others conducted the inspection on Saturday.

Bhowmick expressed his dismay over the Centre’s indifference towards Gangasagar Mela where pilgrims from different parts of the country pour in.

“We feel sad that the Central government does not accord national fair status for Gangasagar Mela which is being constantly demanded by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as it draws similar pilgrims as that of Kumbh Mela,” Bhowmick said.

The tender for dredging of Muriganga has already been called and the work for making temporary embankments with clay and geo-textile bags will begin after Durga Puja.

“We have adopted a nature-based solution known as Tetrapod covering 1,100 metre length at a distance of 70 metre into the sea near Kapil Muni Ashram. When sea waves lash through the tetrapods, the water gets trapped inside the latter. The silt carried by the waves settles down and siltation starts. This leads to the formation of coastal structures such as seawalls and breakwaters or sand dunes that prevent erosion. The tetrapod work was completed in April and it will take at least a year to ascertain the results,” a senior official of the state Irrigation department said.