Samprati Motghare
IIM graduate, Batch of 2014
The Sunderbans, extending over an area of 10,00,000 hectares, is the world's largest delta, formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghana rivers. The vast swampy delta extends over areas comprising of mangrove forests, swamps and forest island, all interwoven in a network of small rivers and streams. The Sunderbanss National Park, home of the Royal Bengal Tiger and the largest mangrove forest in the world, form the core of this area. With the unique Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site, plethora of potentials and problems, Sunderbans draws universal attraction. The Sunderbans region symbolizes the eternal global conflict between developmental and ecological values.
Building infrastructure
Around 60% of the mangrove forests of Sunderbans fall in Bangladesh, with the rest in India. The Indian part alone attracts close to 1,50,000 tourists every year. To cater to such ever increasing pressure of tourists and also the local population, there was an urgent need to develop infrastructure in the region which was overlooked for a past few decades. The new government has achieved important milestones in improving the condition in Sunderbans.
Improved accessibility: A total of 762 km of roads have been laid in the 19 blocks of the Sunderbans region, of which 162 km is metallic road and remaining 600 km is brick laid or concrete roads. This will help in better connectivity in the region for tourists and local population. 10 bridges, out of which 4 are near completion, are being constructed to connect various islands to the mainland. Around 90 jetties, including a concrete jetty especially for Gangasagar pilgrims, are being constructed to improve water transportation. Almost 39 km of canals have been desilted and 2 sports complexes are being constructed in Rajdighi and Canning.
Grid connectivity: 23 mouzas of the region are now grid connected for receiving electricity, in past 34 months. The West Bengal Electricity Distribution Company Limited, is working on extending this connectivity to 45 more mouzas of Gosaba and Patharpratima blocks.
Improving school infrastructure: 16 schools in the Sunderbans region are now accomplished with facilities like libraries, students’ hostels, lavatories, new classrooms etc. 6 girls’ hostels have also been planned in the region and construction has begun on one of the hostels. This would go a long way in helping the local communities to educate their children.
Better earning opportunities for locals
It is important to look after the well being of local population because only when they are happy, they could make the tourists happy. Two chief sources of earning in the Sunderbans region are agriculture and tourism, and the government has taken new steps for their growth.
Agriculture: 1,63,000 small and marginal farmers have been provided with Tested Seeds of sunflower, mung and elephant gourd, along with vermi-compost fertilizers and chemical fertilizers, to increase their quality of produce and in turn increase their income through agriculture. In past 34 months, 8,000 new ponds have been dug in order to conserve the rain water and bring more land under irrigation. 35,000 farmers have been provided with sprayers and paddy thrashing machines for farm mechanization. Also, 1369 tube wells have been installed to solve the problem of inadequate drinking water.
Pisciculture: To encourage fisher men of the region, close to 10,000 fishermen were provided with fish fodder and lime in the past two and a half years. Also, to encourage scientific method of pisciculture, 4050 fishermen have been given a special training on modern methods of pisciculture.
Tourism: Rs 48 crore project has been undertaken by the state government in association with World Bank for setting up eco-tourism at Sagar islands keep in center Kapilmuni temple and Gangasagar mela.
With all the development initiatives, there is also a need to balance the ecological needs of the region. The state government has been successful in achieving that in past two and half years of its governance. Afforestation has been completed in 1600 hectares of marshy land and Tamerisk (Jhau) tree has been planted in close to 875 hectares of land.
IIM graduate, Batch of 2014
The Sunderbans, extending over an area of 10,00,000 hectares, is the world's largest delta, formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghana rivers. The vast swampy delta extends over areas comprising of mangrove forests, swamps and forest island, all interwoven in a network of small rivers and streams. The Sunderbanss National Park, home of the Royal Bengal Tiger and the largest mangrove forest in the world, form the core of this area. With the unique Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site, plethora of potentials and problems, Sunderbans draws universal attraction. The Sunderbans region symbolizes the eternal global conflict between developmental and ecological values.
Building infrastructure
Around 60% of the mangrove forests of Sunderbans fall in Bangladesh, with the rest in India. The Indian part alone attracts close to 1,50,000 tourists every year. To cater to such ever increasing pressure of tourists and also the local population, there was an urgent need to develop infrastructure in the region which was overlooked for a past few decades. The new government has achieved important milestones in improving the condition in Sunderbans.
Improved accessibility: A total of 762 km of roads have been laid in the 19 blocks of the Sunderbans region, of which 162 km is metallic road and remaining 600 km is brick laid or concrete roads. This will help in better connectivity in the region for tourists and local population. 10 bridges, out of which 4 are near completion, are being constructed to connect various islands to the mainland. Around 90 jetties, including a concrete jetty especially for Gangasagar pilgrims, are being constructed to improve water transportation. Almost 39 km of canals have been desilted and 2 sports complexes are being constructed in Rajdighi and Canning.
Grid connectivity: 23 mouzas of the region are now grid connected for receiving electricity, in past 34 months. The West Bengal Electricity Distribution Company Limited, is working on extending this connectivity to 45 more mouzas of Gosaba and Patharpratima blocks.
Improving school infrastructure: 16 schools in the Sunderbans region are now accomplished with facilities like libraries, students’ hostels, lavatories, new classrooms etc. 6 girls’ hostels have also been planned in the region and construction has begun on one of the hostels. This would go a long way in helping the local communities to educate their children.
Better earning opportunities for locals
It is important to look after the well being of local population because only when they are happy, they could make the tourists happy. Two chief sources of earning in the Sunderbans region are agriculture and tourism, and the government has taken new steps for their growth.
Agriculture: 1,63,000 small and marginal farmers have been provided with Tested Seeds of sunflower, mung and elephant gourd, along with vermi-compost fertilizers and chemical fertilizers, to increase their quality of produce and in turn increase their income through agriculture. In past 34 months, 8,000 new ponds have been dug in order to conserve the rain water and bring more land under irrigation. 35,000 farmers have been provided with sprayers and paddy thrashing machines for farm mechanization. Also, 1369 tube wells have been installed to solve the problem of inadequate drinking water.
Pisciculture: To encourage fisher men of the region, close to 10,000 fishermen were provided with fish fodder and lime in the past two and a half years. Also, to encourage scientific method of pisciculture, 4050 fishermen have been given a special training on modern methods of pisciculture.
Tourism: Rs 48 crore project has been undertaken by the state government in association with World Bank for setting up eco-tourism at Sagar islands keep in center Kapilmuni temple and Gangasagar mela.
With all the development initiatives, there is also a need to balance the ecological needs of the region. The state government has been successful in achieving that in past two and half years of its governance. Afforestation has been completed in 1600 hectares of marshy land and Tamerisk (Jhau) tree has been planted in close to 875 hectares of land.
