Balurghat and the surrounding areas are reaping the benefits of the check-dam built on Atreyee River. Incidentally, Bangladesh had built a dam on Atreyee River in Mohanpur. Due to this, during the dry season, large stretches of the Atreyee which flows between Balurghat and Kumarganj used to run dry. As a result, there was a huge problem in river-dependent agriculture and fish-firming. Due to the decrease in fish, the livelihood of fishermen was affected.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took initiative to solve this problem. Work started at the end of 2021 with the allocation of Rs 31 crore by the state government, the work of which was completed at the beginning of 2023. This dam will retain water in a 10-km dry area between this river in Balurghat city’s Chakbhabani area. It is a 195m long and 2m high dam.
Once two metres of water is filled, the rest flows down steam. Besides, there are four gates in this dam. The farmers of Kalikapur, Dakra and Pugliganj have been extremely benefitted. Farmers Nimai Sarkar said that cultivation takes place on land along the riverbanks during Kharif season. In this case they are dependent on river irrigation but for several years there was no water in their area during the dry season. “Since the dam was commissioned last year this problem has been resolved,” stated Prangopal Roy, a farmer.