Kolkata Apr 22 PTI The West Bengal government in its bid to simplify administrative operations is planning to trifurcate South 24 Parganas creating new districts of Baruipur Sundarbans and Diamond Harbour a top official said on FridayWork was being undertaken on war footing to complete formalities necessary to split South 24 Parganas the largest district in the state into three parts the official saidWe are planning to create three new districts -- Baruipur Diamond Harbour and Sundarban -- by the end of the year Once the proposal gets Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees nod South 24 Parganas -- currently stretching from the city to the coastal villages along Bay of Bengal -- will cease to exist he told PTICurrently Diamond Harbour Baruipur and Sundarbans are police districtsExplaining the rationale behind the division the bureaucrat said geographical location of different blocks of South 24 Parganas often caused problems to people who had to travel miles after miles to get administrative work doneThe split was being planned in a certain way to ensure that the new districts get to have one sub-divisional court each he statedBaruipur spanning around 2500 sq km is likely to have 11 blocksWith 11 blocks Baruipur will be the biggest of the three proposed districts Suggestion to make Gosaba a part of Baruipur has been made he saidSundarbans was likely to have eight blocks four in the entire Kakdwip sub-division and an equal number in Diamond Harbour sub-division he saidThe Diamond Harbour district was expected to constitute the entire Alipore Sadar area and a part of the current Diamond Harbour sub-division the official elaboratedKakdwip has been proposed as the district headquarters of Sundarban and Tongtala of Baruipur We are yet to decide on a zilla head office for Diamond Harbour he saidAsked if the creation of the three proposed districts would in any way affect the configuration of assembly segments in South 24 Parganas the official said that Baruipur was likely to have 11 assembly constituencies Diamond Harbour nine and Sundarban sixAll paperwork is ready for the division Lack of adequate IPS and IAS officers was one reason why the process was getting delayed As of now we are waiting for her Mamata Banerjee to sanction the proposal and make an announcement the bureaucrat maintainedLast week the state government had written to the Centre asking it to increase allotment of IAS and IPS officers in the stateThe Mamata Banerjee government had in the past eight years created three new districts -- Alipurduar in June 2014 Kalimpong February 2017 and Jhargram in April 2017It also split Bardhaman into two districtsCurrently West Bengal has 23 districtsNotably prior to March 1980 24 Parganas was the largest district in the country It was then bifurcated into North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas PTI SCH RMS RMS

New Delhi Dec 31 PTI Rejuvenating the Gangas waters and maintaining the rivers purity can be one of the best ways to keep the Sundarbans alive and protect it from effects of climate change NMCG Director General Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said According to Mishra it is crucial to have a minimum environmental flow in the river at all times to prevent the sea from degrading the soil and making the groundwater unfit for drinking and irrigation Climate change could accelerate salt water intrusion into fertile soils due to rise in sea levels Excess groundwater extraction in dry regions of the world could also increase soil and groundwater salinity he said Due to climate change the Sundarbans one of the worlds largest mangrove forest faces several challenges With rising sea levels islands are disappearing and the increasing salinity in the water and soil has severely threatened the health of mangrove forests and the quality of soil and cropsIn the monsoons when the rivers are in full spate they keep the saline waters of the Bay of Bengal at an arms length by pushing them deeper into the sea This prevents the saline water from entering the mangrove forests Mishra told PTI However when the water level recedes during the lean season the saltwater pushes into the mangrove forest and even further into the farmlands thereby destroying not just the crops but the soil for future cultivation Hence it is extremely important to have a minimum environmental flow in the river at all times to prevent the sea from degrading the soil making the groundwater unfit for drinking and irrigation he said The government has mandated the minimum quantity of water that various stretches of river Ganga must necessarily have all through the year Mishra who superannuates on Friday further elaborated on his journey as the chief of National Mission for Clean Ganga NMCG and also how the project to rejuvenate the river progressed in his new book Ganga Reimagining Rejuvenating Reconnecting He has co-authored the book with Puskal Upadhyay an IDAS official who has been a part of the mission Mishra an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and a 1987 batch IAS officer said the book is an attempt to put in perspective the challenges the new approach and thinking which developed the Namami Gange Programme into the most comprehensive river rejuvenation exercise Noting that the sacred river is now crying out for rejuvenation Mishra said returning the Ganges to its virgin state as officials of the NMCG realised soon enough was an extraordinarily difficult and a complex task that called for cooperation and activism from all stakeholders on a mission mode a perfect example of tackling the so-called wicked problem What makes Namami Gange truly stand out from previous efforts for the Ganga rejuvenation is its adoption of a holistic and multi-sectoral approach which does not limit itself to cleaning of the river but extends to rejuvenation and restoration of the entire riverine ecosystem And I think this has been its biggest strength as well as challenge for the future he said According to Mishra the Dissolved Oxygen DO level has improved in 27 locations the Biological Oxygen Demand BOD levels has improved in 42 areas and the quantity of Faecal Coliform FC in the water has been reduced in 21 places The important parameter to be met keeping DO more than 5 mgl has now been successfully achieved and attained throughout the 2525-km-long river which is a proof of the improved river water quality he said The BOD level is also under the set standards ie 3 mgl except at two stretches of the river where it is just exceeding the limit ranging 3 mgl - 5mgl Moreover the water quality has reached Class A the highest standard for water quality up till Haridwar in Uttarakhand This has been a big achievement for the mission Mishra said He said the work is now being extended to include River Gangas tributaries such as River Yamuna River Hindon River Gomti River Ramganga amongst others In the future deliberate action plans must be rolled out to take this work further and rejuvenate the riverine ecosystems of these smaller rivers as well In the same line as you may be aware we have released the ecological flow notification for River Ganga which recognizes the right of the river over its own water We are also in the process of releasing the notification for River Yamuna he said The biggest challenge ahead of the mission is to sustain the various measures undertaken so far Mishra said PTI UZM CJ CJ CJ

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 13 (ANI): Actor Sonu Sood, who had helped the flood victims of the Cyclone Yaas affected residents of the Sundarbans, has been included in a Durga Puja pandal of Kolkata's Kestopur Prafulla Kanan Durga Puja Committee, which has dedicated this year's pandal theme to the flood victims.