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Sailen
Samanta for Bardhaman
Dot Com News Bureau
Burdwan, 5 June 04 :
The Banka - `The Maeander' river of south Bengal, means `a
twisted one'. It rises presently from the swampy rice fields of
Ramgopal & Silla villages of Burdwan district, very near to
the Damodar river under Galsi P.S. Once upon a time, the Kakua
& the Banka rivers were the same one river which originated
from the
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swampy fields of Kanksa-Ranagarh region of BudBud P.S.
but it lost its main course near Kanksa-Bamunara-Nabagram area due
to alluvial soil deposit and other natural calamites. Today the
upper reaches is the Kakua and the lower one is called the Banka.
The river acted once as a spill channel of the Damodar, near Silla;
now the connecting channel is completely silted up. The present
course is noticeable at Ramgopal-Bhurijala which serves as
drainage channel for the south of district where the land is
generally low than the bed of Damodar.
During the British Raj, the Banka was used as a feeding channel in
order to admit an adequate supply of drinking water for the town
of Burdwan. A connection still exists between the Banka & the
Damodar at Jayanti where a slice gate is still in operative
condition. The river runs parallel to Damodar keeping a short
distance from it. After passing through the middle of the Burdwan
town, the river crosses the railway track & flows north
parallel to Chanda Nala which raises from north of Burdwan. Beyond
Burdwan, the river meanders passt Shaktigarh in a north-easterly
direction and finally joins Khari river a few miles north of the
Khari-Bhagirathi sangam.
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The Banka enters the town at Kanchannagar after passing Belkash
village. Its entry point is choked by brickfields and rice-mill
wastes like, dust & husk. Near Alamganj, its problem is
further aggravated by way of dumping fly-ashes on the river bed,
filling it up for playground and children's park, discharging of
polluted city-wastages through drains by the municipality without
any treatment. The river is now used as a drainage channel by the
local authority, administration, railways and the people of
Burdwan without any love & sympathy for a decaying river - the
life of Burdwan. It has now become the
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most polluted water body
and an environmental hazard of the district.
The river have become a dumping ground of both organic &
inorganic compounds which will eventually paralyze the entire
eco-system of Burdwan. Even the National Highway Authority of
India had declined to use the soil of the river bed for filling in
the recent NH2 expansion program. The local authority along with
the district administration should immediately take up the cause
seriously as a calamity and to save it is our utmost duty. We must
create awareness among the people of Burdwan to preserve
this most vital artery of town life for our future generation. If
we want to rebuild Burdwan as a tourist destination, we should
think about the lifeline of the town, the Banka river and other
water bodies of the town.
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Sailen
Samanta is an ex-curator of the Burdwan university
museum & a member of the Burdwan heritage committee
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