Malda, Feb. 1: Delhi has shot down the state’s plan to dredge the Ganga downstream of the Farakka barrage to save Malda from floods and suggested a “less expensive” alternative.

A central team of experts that was in the district on January 23 and 24 has recommended that erosion be contained by reinforcing the banks through modern “river training” methods. The seven-member team had come here to probe the feasibility of a report on the necessity of dredging the river sent by the state’s irrigation and finance ministers .

According to central estimates, the dredging, whose results are uncertain, would cost about Rs 460 crore. The alternative plan involves laying bamboo mattresses along the banks and covering them up with boulders.

“This technique has yielded tremendous result in checking the damage caused by the Yamuna in Bangladesh,” said Prasad Roy, a member of the Farakka barrage technical committee.