Designing and Engineering of Jute Geotextile (JGT) for River Bank Protection and its Subsequent Implementation in River Phulahar

Jute geotextile (JGT) is gradually finding increasing acceptability among geotechnical engineers primarily because of its response to the growing global emphasis. The ecoconcordance of JGT concomitant with its other benefits like facility of production of tailor-made fabrics and price competitiveness have made it the best natural choice for different civil engineering constructions. Natural geotextile such as JGT has been experimented across the world as a bioengineering measure for river bank erosion control and the results are encouraging. Conventional methods of river bank protection in the erosion-prone stretches of the Indian rivers have proved to be a highly expensive proposition with respect to both capital investment and recurring maintenance costs. It is for this reason, Department of Jute and Fibre Technology, University of Calcutta, India in collaboration with National Jute Board, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India alongwith Irrigation and Waterways Department, Government of West Bengal, India has embarked upon designing and engineering JGT as per the site-specific requirement in a river in West Bengal portraying it as the main theme of this article.