Bihar wants early formulation of national silt management policy

PATNA: State water resources department minister Sanjay Kumar Jha on Thursday demanded that the central Jal Shakti ministry should frame and formulate the national silt management policy early, as it will help the state in taking up silt removal work from the Ganga, other rivers and lakes. Jha was speaking at a national workshop on ‘Dam security governance’, organised in New Delhi as part of the Centre’s Embankment Security Act, 2021.
Jha said huge silt has accumulated on the bed of the Ganga and other rivers which needed to be cleared. He said the Centre had sought the state's response to its two draft proposals to which it had already responded. Accordingly, he demanded the early framing and formulation of the national silt management policy.
In tune with the Centre's embankment security Act, 2021, Jha said the state's most dams were over 30 years old, as a result of which silt deposit has occurred and their water storage capacity has also reduced. In pursuance of the required de-siltation work, he sought technical and financial support from the central ministry.
Jha said the state has 27 large dams and five main barrages across rivers.
He said the state government had formulated its own embankment security Act, 2006, and accordingly, also constituted its state embankment security committee, besides the embankment security cell. “Engineers from the security cell conduct inspection of the embankments and submit their reports to the regional chief engineers, WRD state headquarters and central water commission. In consonance with the central Act, too, state embankment security organisation has been set up,” he said.
Jha also extended invitation to the Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to visit Bihar and see the rubber dam being constructed on the Falgu near Vishnupad temple at Gaya. The rubber dam is the first of its kind in the country, Jha said.