Dredging planned at Mahananda Bar­rage to boost irrig­a­tion flow

To ensure unin­ter­rup­ted sup­ply of irrig­a­tion water to agri­cul­tural lands, the state Irrig­a­tion depart­ment has decided to carry out dredging oper­a­tions upstream of the Mahananda Bar­rage near Phul­bari in Jalpai­guri dis­trict. Tenders have been invited to select an agency for the work, which is expec­ted to begin shortly.

Offi­cials said around 1,77,950 tonnes (approx­im­ately 53,912 cubic feet) of sand, gravel and soil will be removed from the bar­rage area. The dredging will be car­ried out at no cost to the gov­ern­ment, with the selec­ted agency pay­ing rev­enue to the Irrig­a­tion depart­ment as per gov­ern­ment norms. The final selec­tion of the agency is likely to be com­pleted within this month.

The Mahananda River ori­gin­ates in the Chimli region of the Dar­jeel­ing hills. However, due to its link­age with the Teesta–Mahananda Bar­rage sys­tem, water from the Teesta Bar­rage also flows into the Mahananda. From the Mahananda Bar­rage, water is sup­plied to agri­cul­tural fields through an extens­ive canal net­work. The river water is also util­ised for hydro­elec­tric power gen­er­a­tion.

Large quant­it­ies of sed­i­ment accu­mu­lated in the Teesta Bar­rage fol­low­ing land­slides triggered by the Sikkim gla­cial lake dis­aster in Octo­ber 2023 and flash floods in 2024. Although water was later released, sig­ni­fic­ant sand depos­its remain. Par­tial

dredging has already been under­taken in some sec­tions of the Teesta. As water from the Teesta flows into the Mahananda Canal, sed­i­ment has also been accu­mu­lat­ing near Phul­bari, upstream of the Mahananda Bar­rage. With the dry sea­son under­way and irrig­a­tion demand set to rise, offi­cials said the dredging is neces­sary to restore water-car­ry­ing capa­city before peak agri­cul­tural oper­a­tions begin.

State Irrig­a­tion Min­is­ter Manas Bhuiya said: “Ahead of the mon­soon, dredging of rivers and canals is being car­ried out across the state. This work is being done without any fin­an­cial bur­den on the gov­ern­ment, and agen­cies involved will pay rev­enue to the Irrig­a­tion depart­ment as per rules.”

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