Posted on May 27, 2021
Varanasi: The ongoing dredging work in the Ganga on the seven-km stretch between Ramnagar Fort and Malviya rail-road bridge for reducing velocity of water flow that has been eroding the ghats and threatening the historical structures is nearing completion and the second stream is taking final shape.
The piles of sand removed from the Ganga has helped create a sand island that could be used to host various activities, including events like the famous Rann Mahotsava held in Kutch, Gujarat.
The Rs 11.95 crore project is likely to be completed by June 15.
“We had started this project worth Rs 11.95 crores in March. Maximum work of creating a new channel of Ganga stream on the right bank has been completed and the project will be over by June 15. The work done so far has turned the sandbanks between the two channels in an island shape,” said irrigation department’s executive engineer Pankaj Verma, who is supervising the project, while talking to TOI on Monday.
“This multipurpose project is reducing the velocity of water flow which was eroding ghat steps and threat to historical buildings was increasing. While creating a new channel we have ensured the actual stream does not shift away from the ghats,” he said.
“The work has been done in such a way that when the project is fully complete, 60% river water will pass through the old stream on the left bank and the remaining 40% will be through the new channel towards the right bank,” Verma added.
The average depth of river on the ghat side is 10 metre while the depth of the new channel is 7-8 metre, he said adding, the cargo vessels on National Waterway-I will also pass through the new channel.
About 12 lakh cubic metres of sand was removed by the dredging machine to create a 45 metre wide new channel towards the right bank. The sand dredged from the river has created a sand island.
Divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal said, “The increased area of sand ghats will be an attraction for picnickers and can also be used to organize mega cultural events like the famous Rann Mahotsava of Gujarat.”
No dredging had been done since 1989 when the stretch had been notified as a tortoise sanctuary, and as a result there had been massive sedimentation along the right bank which increased the velocity of river flow near the ghats and had started eroding them.
