Rising sea, shrinking sands erode flair of the famed Ganga Sagar Mela

Rising sea level and erosion of the beach in front of the Kapil Muni temple on the Sagar Island are turning out to be an eyesore for the Ganga Sagar Mela as the West Bengal government is desperately seeking a ‘National Fair’ status to the annual religious congregation.

Rising sea level and erosion of the beach in front of the Kapil Muni temple on the Sagar Island are turning out to be an eyesore for the Ganga Sagar Mela as the West Bengal government is desperately seeking a ‘National Fair’ status to the annual religious congregation.

As thousands of pilgrims are descending on the island located in the southernmost tip of West Bengal for the annual dip on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, about one km of the beach in front of the temple is covered with mud. The administration has put up warning signs on the beach and diverted pilgrims to other beaches on the island far from the temple for the holy dip.

Hours before the auspicious holy dip for Makar Sankranti was about to start at 00.13 hours on January 15, several Ministers of the West Bengal government expressed their helplessness in maintaining the island. “We cannot fight nature,” Irrigation Minister Partha Bhowmick said on Sunday. On Saturday, Minister Arup Biswas had said it was impossible to fight with nature.

Mr. Bhowmick said pilgrims would not face the problem. On January 14, District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas Sumit Gupta evaded question on erosion and said only experts could take a call on the issue.

The State government has put up tetrapods — a form of wave-dissipating concrete block — to arrest erosion along the Ganga Sagar beach. The Irrigation Minister said the impact of tetrapods in arresting sea erosion would be known only after the monsoon. Speaking about the tidal surges and fast-changing landscape of the Sunderbans, Mr. Bhowmick said a char land (land formed because of sediment deposition in the river) was formed near the Sagar Island, which the local people had not even thought of.

The West Bengal government has spent about ₹25 crore for dredging of the Sagar Island. This is about 10% of the estimated budget of the Ganga Sagar Mela, which, according to authorities, is pegged at ₹250 crore.

Erosion of a large stretch of the island has come as an embarrassment when the Ministers and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wanted the Ganga Sagar Mela be accorded a National Mela status. On January 11, Ms. Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that “considering the uniqueness, significance, magnitude and spiritual depth associated with the Ganga Sagar Mela, I would earnestly appeal to you to kindly consider to declare the Mela a National Fair”.