Alleging that the central government has not taken any step to help West Bengal prevent the erosion of rivers Ganga, Irrigation Minister Manas Bhunia on Wednesday said that the state government is planning to set up a project with neighbouring Jharkhand and Bihar to address the issue.
West Bengal has lost a total of 25,652 bighas of land in Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia districts because of river erosion.
"We are trying to formulate a project along with the Bihar and Jharkhand governments to address the flood and erosion issue. This is only in a very planning stage," Bhunia said.
He said that the rivers flowing down from Bhutan were causing damage to the districts in the northern part of the state.
Bhunia said that since 2011, the TMC government has distributed land leases to 2,599 people in Malda, as there was no rehabilitation package from the Centre for the victims of the landslides.
Besides, the state government has built houses for those affected in three districts under the 'Banglar Bari' project, he stated.
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