NEW SWIMMING POOL, STRIKE

First swimming pool coming up

COOCH BEHAR, Jan. 15: Cooch Behar is going to get its first swimming pool very soon. The proposed swimming pool will come up in the Cooch Behar Palace complex at a lowland adjacent to the place where the first indoor stadium of the district came up a few years ago.

 

A proposal already sent to the state youth welfare department for the proposed swimming pool. The swimming pool will be of about 3,000 square-feet. District planning officer Mr Sunil Agarwala said they sought a fund of Rs 1.70-crore for implementing the facility. It will be a full fledged one, he said.

 

The work for the swimming pool will start very soon, probably before the next election, according to Mr Agarwala. The required fund may also arrive here very soon, he hoped.

 

A swimming pool is very much needed in Cooch Behar. The budding swimmers and learners have been demanding for this facility for a long. At last, their demand is going to take a shape. It may be mentioned here that work for another swimming pool of International standard is going on in Tufanganj. []

Bandh against river erosion

 

COOCH BEHAR, Jan. 15: Demanding measures to stop erosion of farmland from underground caused by Saltia river a 12-hour bandh was held at twenty gram panchayat areas in Cooch Behar district today. Forward Bloc supported Agragami Kisan Sabha and Save Saltia Committee have called the bandh.

 

District Forward Bloc secretary Mr Udayan Guha demanded the Centre to take the responsibility to reform the river from being dried up and stop underground erosion.

 

Mr Guha said it was like a mere canal in 1977. Protective measures were taken with funds from soil conservation scheme but that yielded no result. The underground erosion already posed a danger to about 60-kilometre stretch of land in ten gram-panchayat areas. More than 2-lakh people have been affected. In 2005-06, Rs 42-lakh were extended from Uttar Banga Unnayan Parshad (UBUP) to stop the erosion. The irrigation department spent about Rs 20-lakh and declared that the job was finished but the problem is still there, he said.

 

Today’s bandh exerted its influence in road communication from Cooch Behar town to Mathabhanga, Dinhata, Mekhliganj and a part of Tufanganj. The bandh was total in Cooch Behar-I block area. During the bandh educational institutions and offices were found closed. Passenger bus services and plying of all motor vehicles were disrupted. The bandh supporters detained the Alipurduar-Bamanhat passenger train at Ghughumari for about two hours this morning.

 

The erosion caused by Saltia is a major problem in this district. In the past years several movements has been organised. Experts visited the area but nothing mentionworthy was done till now to stop the menace. []