Farakka barrage must be dismantled in the interest of Bihar:

Bihar's Water Resources Minister- Sanjay Kumar Jha- on Tuesday said that Farakka barrage, which has been built by compromising the state's interest, should be dismantled.

The minister said that the state government has been writing to the Centre for the resolution of the problems caused by the dam and will do so again encompassing all issues.

The Farakka barrage was constructed in the early 60s with the main purpose of helping flush out sediment deposition from Kolkata Port, besides addressing drinking water requirement in West Bengal. The dam became operational in 1975.

"It (Farakka barrage) must be dismantled in the interest of Bihar...People of Bihar have been suffering every year due to it. It has become 'sorrow' for all of us," Jha told reporters here.

"What options do we have. Either it (barrage) should be dismantled otherwise people of Bihar will continue to suffer or it should be repaired completely by retrofitting it and carry out dredging in its upstream," he added.

The minister, accompanied by the department secretary Sanjeev Hans, pointed out that due to siltation in the upstream of the dam, the peak level water discharge from Ganga, which reaches Farakka within 48 to 50 hours in normal course from Patna, has not reached there even after seven days.

Stating that Ganga's highest flow level at Allahabad and Patna (Gandhi Ghat) was recorded at 85.09 meter and 49.79 meter respectively on September 22, 2019 this monsoon, Jha said the water reached Patna from Allahabad covering a distance of 515 km in just two days, while it has already taken seven days to cover 415 km of distance between Patna and the Farakka and the peak level water has not reached there yet.

Making a strong plea to the centre to resolve the issue, he said if the things are not resolved, the problem would become "grave" especially for cities/towns situated along river Ganga in years to come.

"The treaty (for constructing Farakka barrage) was signed by compromising the interest of Bihar," he said.

It may be mentioned that Nitish Kumar governmment has been advocating the case for decommissioning of the Farakka barrage which has become a cause for siltation in the river Ganga resulting in floods in Bihar every year.

"Our CM Nitish Kumar jee has been raising the issue with the centre on Farakka barrage. We have conducted two international seminars on it in Delhi and Patna," the minister said.

Asked as how many gates of Farakka barrage have been opened for water discharge, Jha said out of 109 gates, 76 have been opened fully while remaining 33 gates have been kept opened upto 75 per cent which is sufficient for water discharge.

"I don't have any knowledge as when did these 10 extra gates were built over Farraka barrage," Jha said when journalists pointed out that union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that 119 gates of Farakka barrage were raised to prevent floods in Patna and other districts.

The issue of opening gates of barrage was resolved on September 23, 2019 itself, a day after the chief minister discussed it with the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, Jha said.