3 years after Bangladeshi ship sank in Hoogly, siltation puts Gangasagar festival under cloud
A sunken Bangladeshi cargo ship has resurfaced in the Ganges delta, threatening the Gangasagar Mela religious festival and causing siltation in the Muriganga river. The ship, which sank during the pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020, has created a riverine island that is blocking the waterway for boats ferrying pilgrims. Experts warn that if the ship is not removed, the river will become choked with silt, affecting its flow and navigation. Efforts are underway to create alternate channels for the festival, but the ship's removal may not be possible before the event.
A Bangladeshi cargo ship that sank in the Ganges delta at the height of the pandemic-induced lockdown three years ago has resurfaced to haunt authorities in West Bengal, threatening the year’s first major religious festival, the Gangasagar Mela.
The reason — the capsized vessel has hastened siltation in the Muriganga river, a distributary of the mighty Hoogly in the Sunderbans region, precipitating the birth of a riverine island, or char, which is now blocking the shallow stretch of water boats take to ferry nearly four million pilgrims to the confluence point of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal.
Experts say that unless the ship, MV Dhrubo Rupanti, is removed, the accumulating silt would eventually choke the Muriganga river, turning its gushing flow only into a tidal creek.
“This year suddenly a char has surfaced. We haven’t noticed any char in that area in the last two to three decades. The siltation took place because of a Bangladeshi ship that had sunk a few years ago. Additional dredging machines have been deployed this year to create alternate channels. The ship couldn’t be removed all these years,” said Bankim Chandra Hazra, state Sunderban Affairs ministers.
The issue — first flagged about a month ago— came up in an administrative meeting held by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on December 27 to take stock of preparations for the Gangasagar Mela, scheduled between January 8 and 17.
“Siltation has been going on and now it has developed into a char. Won’t other vessels bump into that sunken ship? Anytime an accident may take place,” the CM asked bureaucrats at the meeting.
“Massive siltation is going on, centering around that capsized vessel on the riverbed. It came to light two to three months ago when the silt started to surfaced above the water level and took the shape of a char – a riverine island, blocking the channel which boats take to ferry pilgrims and tourists to Ganga Sagar,” said an official present in the meeting, requesting anonymity.
The Gangasagar Mela is celebrated at the southernmost tip of Bengal, where the Bay of Bengal meets the Ganges, around Makar Sankranti in the second week of January every year. Considered the largest religious fair in eastern India, the Mela is organised in a corner of Sagar, a large weather battered island that is separated from the mainland by the Muriganga, one of numerous distributaries the Hoogly splits into as it approaches the ocean.
On April 9, 2020 — two weeks into a nationwide Covid-19 lockdown — a Bangladeshi cargo vessel carrying fly ash, named MV Dhrubo Rupanti, sunk after it suffered an engine failure and hit an electric post between Sagar and Kachuberia jetty on the mainland.
The ship was on its return journey to Bangladesh carrying fly ash. This falls under the Indo-Bangla Protocol Route which is used by cargo vessels. There have been multiple accidents on this route.
There were 10 crew members, who were rescued and brought to Sagar and quarantined in a local hospital. They were treated for nearly a year before being sent back to Bangladesh. As waves upon waves of the pandemic crashed ashore, little thought was paid to the hulking mass of iron and steel.
Now, however, officials have woken up to the problem.
“Hardly any time is left for the Ganga Sagar mela. The capsized ship can’t be removed before the mela. We have started heavy dredging so that two alternative channels in the Muriganga may be opened to ferry pilgrims to Sagar. Two dredging machines, each with a capacity of removing 500 cubic metre of silt in one hour, have been deployed,” said Prabhat Kumar Mishra, principal secretary of state irrigation department.
Officials said that bureaucrats from all departments, and officers from the Indian Navy and Coast Guard, were present in the December 27 meeting.
“The chief minister requested the Indian Navy if it could help. But the navy said that it doesn’t have the infrastructure to remove a capsized ship. They informed that there were specialised salvage companies both in India and abroad to do that task,” said a top bureaucrat.
Experts said that if the ship is not removed, siltation would continue and ultimately threaten the river.
“The ship’s fly ash, which has heavy metals in it including lead and cadmium, got mixed with the water. This might have had some effect on local biodiversity. If the ship is not removed, the river may remain navigable only during the highest tide and boats won’t be able to take that route during most of the time. In the future, it may also get cut off and exist just as a tidal creek,” said Tuhin Ghosh, director of the school of oceanographic studies at Jadavpur University.
For now, with little time left, officials are racing against time to put stop-gap arrangements in place. The area has been cordoned off with buoys which are visible at night, and removal of the ship put off till after the mega event.
“Sometimes it is best to leave it as it is because it won’t be cost effective to remove the ship,” said a third official.
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