Question : FARAKKA BARRAGE

(a) whether the gates of Farakka Barrage need immediate replacement as they are very old;

(b) if so, the details of gates which have collapsed in the past;

(c) whether the Chief Minister of West Bengal has written a letter to the Union Government regarding need for replacement of Gates of Farakka Barrage and particularly Gate 49 which collapsed recently leading to excess water flowing to Bangladesh;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the action taken by the Government to replace all gates of Farakka Barrage expeditiously?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (PROF. SANWAR LAL JAT)

(a) Yes, Madam. The Farakka Barrage Project (FBP) was commissioned in year 1975. It is having total 123 gates; some of these gates have outlived their economic life and serviceability.

(b) During the last five years, three gates of Farakka Barrage have been collapsed. Two gates of Farakka Barrage, viz; No. 13 and 16 were damaged in June & December, 2011, respectively. These gates were replaced by new gates in February & March 2012. The Gate in the bay No. 49 of Farakka Barrage came out of its groove on 15.3.2015, and it was lost permanently. FBP authority took up the replacement work on war footing and a new gate in this Bay was commissioned within 15 days, i.e. on March 28, 2015.

(c) & (d) Yes, Madam. Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal had emphasized in her letter of March 18, 2015 to take up a comprehensive time bound programme for replacement of all the gates of Farakka Barrage including said Gate no. 49. As stated above, the Gate no. 49 was installed on March 28, 2015, and, during the period of installation of new gates, the flow in Ganga/ Padma river and also in the Farakka canal was regulated as per India- Bangladesh Treaty-1996, and the pool level in the Farakka reservoir was maintained to the desired level safeguarding the interest of all the stakeholders.

(e) Phase wise replacement of all the 123 Gates of Farakka Barrage during XII Five year plan has been undertaken by FBP authority, on the recommendations of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of FBP. A provision of Rs. 91 crore has been kept for this purpose in XII Plan scheme of FBP. The work of replacement of six (06) nos. of Barrage Gates was taken up and completed during 2012-13 by FBP authority. The work for replacement of 33 severely distressed gates of FBP in first phase was awarded by General Manager-FBP in June, 2013. Out of these, 15 gates have already been replaced by new gates during 2014-15. Hence, total 21 gates of the Farakka Barrage have been replaced till March 2015.