A man crosses the flooded Mankanali bridge over the Gandheshwari river following heavy rainfall in Bankura, West Bengal, on June 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
As several wards of Ghatal municipality in Paschim Medinipur lay submerged due to excessive rainfall in the last several days, the West Bengal Government blamed the Union Government for not releasing funds for the Ghatal Master Plan.
The Ghatal Master Plan is a comprehensive flood management scheme by the West Bengal government, aimed particularly at the flood-prone areas in Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur. The Detailed Project Report was sent to the Ganga Flood Control Commission under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti in December 2014, according to the West Bengal government. The project remains incomplete.
Meanwhile, like most years, this year too, places including Ghatal and Garbeta in Paschim Midnapore district, and certain areas of Bankura, Hooghly, and Howrah districts have been flooded due to excessive rain and the release of water from reservoirs, leading to a surge in local rivers.
Despite extensive relief efforts by the West Bengal government, including rescue operations and flood shelters, two people reportedly lost their lives due to drowning in the flood-hit Ghatal area last week. Thousands had to be evacuated from their homes, and considerable damage has been incurred in agricultural lands, homes, and roads.
Amidst the ongoing flood crisis, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) waged a war of words over who was to be held accountable for the severe floods.
Former BJP MP Locket Chatterjee took to social media on Sunday (June 22, 2025) and posted a video, reportedly from the Ghatal floods. “The Ghatal Master Plan was supposed to be implemented by December 31, 2024. The image of 2025 is before the whole of West Bengal, including Ghatal,” Ms. Chatterjee said.
A few days earlier, the BJP’s State unit had also accused the Trinamool MP from Ghatal, Dev Adhikari, of being an “absentee representative” in the face of the perpetual flooding crises.
On Monday (June 23, 2025), the State government sharply retorted to Ms. Chatterjee’s post alleging that the Union government had not sanctioned any funds for the Ghatal Master Plan till date, despite the State sending a formal proposal of inclusion under the Central Flood Management and Border Area Programme funding scheme in June 2022.
“In 2014, the Indian government came under the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ms. Chatterjee, you were also an MP. But did you appeal to the Union government or to the Prime Minister to provide money for the Ghatal Master Plan, along with your party MPs? You did not,” Manas Ranjan Bhuiyan, West Bengal Minister for the Irrigation and Waterways Department, said on Monday (June 23, 2025).
He added that in the State Budget for the 2025-26 financial year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had approved the Ghatal Master Plan project of ₹1,500 crore, of which ₹500 crore had been allocated this time.
Meanwhile, State authorities, in an official statement from the Irrigation and Waterways Department on Monday (June 23, 2025), said that work was in progress for the Ghatal Master Plan and that it was expected to be completed by March 2027.
“The work of construction of five sluices has already started in the field from February, 2025 with the current progress at around 60-70%. The dredging of Chandreswar Khal is almost completed. The works of two pump houses in Ghatal [Municipality] is going to start soon as work orders have been issued. The tenders for dredging of Silabati river, Old Cossye, Tamal, Parang, Buri Ganga, Solatopa, Old Solatopa channels of total length around 75 km have been floated,” the Irrigation and Waterways Department’s statement said.
Published – June 24, 2025 04:59 am IST
