Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Inconsistency, or A Conspiracy?
From the beginning to the end of the construction of the Farakka Barrage, doubts
were raised, in some quarters, about the necessity of diverting 40,000 cusecs of the
Ganga's upland flow to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly to resuscitate it and the Calcutta
port. The Project Report, 'The Preservation of the port of Calcutta', prepared by
India's Ministry of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi and sanctioned in 1961 spec-
ified optimum continuous discharges through the feeder canal into the Bhagirathi
in cycle of withdrawals, as under, if these were confirmed by model tests before
regularization.
Period
Optimum releases into Feeder canal
1
1st January to mid-March
40,000 cusecs
2 Mid-March to mid-May
20,000 cusecs
3 Mid-May to mid-September
20,000 cusecs
4 Mid-September to end-December
40,000 cusecs
The report further mentioned that it would be possible to maintain continuous
flow through the Bhagirathi below the Jangipur barrage with this operational pattern
throughout the year.
A major input in the Report might have been the recommendations of Dr. Hensen
in 1957, particularly the sequence of upland discharge from his suggested release
through the River Bhagirathi. His sequence was based on very limited data made
available to him in 1957. He accepted these but recommended collection of more
data on the Bhagirathi-Hooghly by extensive observations. This led to the forma-
tion of a separate Hydraulic Study Department in the Calcutta Port Trust in 1962.
The data that it collected were shown to Dr. Hensen when he visited Kolkata again in
1966 and 1967. Studying them, he came to the conclusion that the minimum require-
ment of water to stop the deterioration of the Hooghly and to gradually improve it
was 40,000 cusecs. More data were collected and sent to him in West Germany in
1971 through a team of officers of the port to find out if there was any scope for
reducing the upland discharge through the canal. He examined the fresh data and
held that more than 40,000 cusecs was needed, round the year, to clear the ship
route to Calcutta harbour and to restore the river to 1935-1936 condition.
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search