Ichhapur canal to be cleared

Barasat, May 8 (UNI) Providing a fresh breath of life to the 10,000 inhabitants, settled near the Barti Beel, at Ichhapur in North 24 Parganas, district administration has taken up a scheme for clearing the 10-km Ichhapur canal.

The canal, which originates from the river Hooghly at Ichhapur and links the Barti Beel, a large water body. The canal clearing work would be implemented at the cost of Rs 50 lakh.

The canal was heavily silted and filled up with industrial effluents, polluting its surroundings.

Zilla Parishad chief Aparna Gupta and district magistrate Prabhat Kumar Mishra jointly visited the canal side early this week before the beginning of the project and said that the work would start soon. Prevailing condition of the Ichhapur canal and the Sonai canal, which flowed from the Barti Beel had both become the main outlet of drainage. This caused concern for the inhabitants and the district administration since a considerable portion of Barrackpore Sub-Division remained inundated during the monsoons.

The administration, however, faced major hurdles in this project, due to unauthorised occupation of land, not only on its banks, but also on the canal beds at several places.

During a recent survey, it was also discovered that 117 acres of land of Sonai canal was occupied through alleged illegal transfer of status of land in Telenipara Mouza between 1977 and 1984.

It was observed that the Sonai canal bed was 'permanently' occupied and utilised as brick kilns.

UNI