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The left bank between Manikchak and Farakka in Malda district also experiences
severe erosion. Before the barrage came up, the river upstream was straight and a
big alluvial fan and a char land existed at about 20 km above. The downstream
char land, which is now very near the barrage, was about 5 km away. This is shown
in Fig. 5.4.
Survey data of 1939 and topo sheets of 1924 revealed that the river was mean-
dering between Rajmahal and Lalgola. The 35.0 km course between Rajmahal and
Farakka had two meander bends - one in its upper half and the other in the lower
half, both on the right. The reach between Farakka and Dhulian, some 25 km, had
one meander bend, leaving the main channel on the left. Similar alternate meander
bends were seen even below Dhulian up to Lalgola and further down. The mean-
dering pattern in 1939 indicated that below Farakka, the river would flow on the left
as long as the main channel remained on the right, above Farakka. This was seen
to have reversed in 1948-1949 survey maps, i.e., the main channel above Farakka
flowed on the left and below it up to Dhulian, it flowed on the right. In 1956 survey,
the river was seen to have reversed to the 1939 pattern (Figs. 5.6 and 5.7).
Fig. 5.6 Plan of the river Ganga showing 1939 course
DHULIAN
NAYANSUKH
FARAKKA
BARRAGE
AXIS
RAJMAHAL
Fig. 5.7 Ganga river course around Farakka in 1956
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