Save Sunderbans drive
the West Bengal government will initiate a plan to save the Sunderbans, the world's largest delta. Plans are afoot to set up Sunderban Protection Committees in every block of the region. Thereafter, representatives from each block would coordinate the plan at the central level.
The problems that afflict the area are manifold. The embankments near the 54 inhabited villages suffer extensive damage every year due to cyclones. This also results in dislocation. According to one estimate, about 9,000 people have died due to storms and tidal waves in the last 30 years. This year too, the situation remains unchanged. The cyclone that struck on June 10 affected about 2,000 families at Satjelia, Bali and Kachakhalli islands. Vast stretches of cultivable land were destroyed by saline water, which gushed through the breaches in the embankments.
According to a report prepared by West Bengal-based Tagore Society for Rural Development, it would be futile to consider the problems of breaches in embankments or of development plans in isolation, removed from the larger problem of environment and conservation.