Chitale Committee recommends measures for desiltation of river Ganga

Chitale Committee on desiltation of River Ganga has come up with several recommendations such as establishing annual sediment budgets to guide de-silting activities, morphological and flood routing studies and study of reach wise sediment transport processes.

About Chitale Committee

• Constituted in: July 2016
• Constituted by: Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
• Chairperson of the Committee: Madhav Chitale (Expert Member of National Ganga River Basin Authority)
• Other Members of the Committee: Dr. Mukesh Sinha, Director, Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.

Mandate:

• To prepare guidelines for desiltation of river Ganga from Bhimgauda (Uttarakhand) to Farakka (West Bengal).
• Establish difference between desilting and sand mining
• Establish need for desilting for ecology and e-flow of the river Ganga

Important Remarks and Recommendations of Chitale Committee:

Committee has mentioned that though de-siltation works can improve hydraulic performance of the river, it has no direct role in improving environment flow in the river.

• Highlighting the importance of sediment transport in rivers, the committee recommended thatbasic principles of siltation in rivers should be kept in mind while considering de-siltation works.
• Committee has recommended undertaking Catchment Area Treatment and Watershed Development works in a comprehensive way to reduce silt inflow into the river system.
• Sufficient areas of flood plain and lakes along the course of river should be maintained to accommodate the flood level. Thus, Government should take necessary steps to prevent encroachment of flood plains and disconnection of lakes from river and should also de-silt the adjoining lakes and depression to increase the storage capacity.
• Cut-off developments and provision of extra water way should be made at barrages and bridges so that the river does not wander away due to silting at such places.
• Waters of first flow of monsoon should not be stored in reservoirs as they generally carry high silt load.
• The committee also recommended constructive uses of river gravels/sands/silts for building houses, roads, embankment and reclamation works.
• Shoals at Farakka Barrage should be de-silted and the sediments should be used for re-grading the Farakka Feeder Canal or for strengthening the embankments around the barrage pond.