The Ganga river has abandoned its original course in Bhagalpur district of Bihar, and huge sand bars have formed in the middle of the stream in some areas, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday quoting police officials. The sand bars are hindering vessel navigation.
The river has changed course and is now flowing in a northward loop along Naugachhia near Khagaria district, the daily reported. This has also led to reduced availability of water for ships passing through the southern side.
The Inland Waterways Authority of India plans to dig a pilot channel in the river through dredging. However, Prashant Kumar, the deputy director of IWAI’s sub-office at Sahebganj in Jharkhand, said only 700 metres of the seabed could be cleared after a month of dredging works. The sand islands in the river present difficulties for the work.
Around 1,700 metres of seabed needs to be dredged to provide water depth for bigger ships to sail under the Vikramshila bridge.
Water supply to Bhagalpur has also diminished because of the change in the river’s direction, the daily said.
The Bhagalpur stretch of the Ganga river is part of the area declared National Waterways No 1 – a Rs 5,000 crore project for which the World Bank has provided financial assistance. The work includes development of three multi-modal hubs at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Haldia in West Bengal, and Sahebganj in Jharkhand.
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