West Bengal to rebuild 400 km of embankments in Sundarbans
May 30th, 2009 - 6:41 pm ICT by IANSKolkata, May 30 (IANS) The West Bengal government will rebuild 400 kms of embankments destroyed by Cyclone Aila in the mangrove forests of Sundarbans in an effort to save the region from any more floods in the coming monsoon.
“We’ll start constructing 400 kms of embankments in Sundarbans and will try to finish the work within the next one week,” state Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar told reporters after surveying the cyclone-hit villages in the Sundarbans Saturday.
He said that nearly 350 km of embankments had been destroyed in South 24-Parganas due to cyclone Aila and another 50 km in the neighbouring North 24-Parganas district.
“We’ll at least try to temporarily develop the damaged embankments in Sundarbans to save the local population from a flood-like situation,” Naskar said.
Hundreds of villages in the two districts continued to be marooned, with saltwater intrusion destroying the paddy crop and rendering vast stretches of land fallow in the Sundarbans area in the aftermath of the cyclone. The officials have confirmed 117 deaths so far.
The floods also washed away seeds, killed livestock and wiped out all stocks of freshwater fish and shrimp.
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- Land acquisition hampering embankment building in Sunderbans - Feb 29, 2012
- In Sundarbans, weak embankments a major concern this monsoon - Apr 12, 2010
- Bengal to acquire land for building river embankments - Jun 04, 2011
- Not possible to repair all embankments hit by Aila: Bengal minister - Jun 06, 2009
- Cyclone Aila devastates Sundarbans - Jun 07, 2009
- Hit by Aila, cyclone survivors scoff at Buddhadeb (Lead) - Jun 02, 2009
- Children of Sunderbans still bear scars of Aila havoc - May 25, 2010
- West Bengal seeks fund for Sundarbans - Feb 18, 2011
- Battered but still balloting, Sundarbans shows way - Apr 28, 2011
- Pilgrims not to pay tax at fair: Mamata - Oct 20, 2011
- Relief workers fear epidemic in Sundarbans after Cyclone Aila - Jun 01, 2009
- A Rs 12,000 crore project to develop the Sundarbans - Dec 16, 2009
- Relief work begins in cyclone-hit Sundarbans, toll 27 - May 26, 2009
- Rebuilding lives of Cyclone Aila victims still a challenge (Third of three-part series)(With Images) - Jun 30, 2009
Tags: aftermath, aila, cyclone, embankments, flood, floods, freshwater fish, irrigation, kolkata, livestock, mangrove forests, monsoon, naskar, neighbouring, paddy crop, saltwater intrusion, shrimp, stretches, sundarbans, west bengal government
