West Bengal Irrigation Minister Manas Bhunia has claimed that his department has adopted an unprecedented process of dredging which is not only cost effective but will also help improve the financial situation of the state government.
In this process, state irrigation department selects contractor through tender process who will do the dredging. The contractor will take the material which came out during dredging and sale it. Some of the material stack in the state land and also used to give royalty to the state government for entire silt which came out during dredging.
What was the process earlier
According to the Irrigation Department, from 2011-12 to 2024-25, on an average 226 Km of drainage channel/rivers have been excavated annually. The corresponding average annual expenditure is around Rs. 500 Crore. Now, the the state government has developed a unique model to carry out such dredging at no cost to the State Exchequer model.
The minister said, “Through this model I&WD will identify the reach of channel/khal/river to be dredged, evaluate the quantity of dredging and the nature of river bed materials like sand clay, silt etc. If the dredging is not a complex one then with the concerned District Administration will carry out the dredging with the support and supervision of the I&WD engineers, after engaging dredging contractor through tender process. Otherwise the dredging will be carried out by I&WD. In both the cases, at this moment, the dredging will be carried out by adopting the no cost to the State model, developed by West Bengal Mineral Development & Trading Corporation Ltd. (WBMDTCL).”
He further added, “Here the engaged contractor apart from paying the royalty on the dredged material, will give a part of the dredged soil at the government stackyard, which can be utilized for various purposes.”
Bhunia claimed, “Almost adopting the same methodology of WBMDTCL, I&WD has sent a proposal to finance Department for dredging on premium sharing basis. Here, the engaged contractor, apart form paying royalty on dredged material will give premium at a contract rate/per cubic metre to the Government. If approved the said model will be implemented either through district administration or by I&WD itself. However, in both the cases there would not be any expenditure from the State Government, instead revenue can be generated.”
Result of this model
I&WD has got the dredging done through WBMDTCL with no cost volume sharing model at 5 river stretches during 2022-23 to till date. It includes Damodar, Subarnarekha, Mayurakshi. Moreover, such dredging at 18 sites across the state are ongoing at this moment through WBMDTCL (Total 180 km length and 2 Crore Cum dredged material). I&WD has already conveyed NOC to all the DM’s to carry out dredging adopting No cost model of WBMDTCL. The DM, Purba Medinipur has already initiated dredging at 13 Khals in this process.”
