Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has expressed optimism that the Brahmaputra Board, which had gone into oblivion for a stretch of time, would resurrect by making its presence felt following a Board meeting held here on June 15.
He,however, asserted that the Board, which had much significance once, has to gear up its activities to regain its lost glory and start from where it had left.
The 55th meeting of the Board discussed the annual accounts for 2011-2012 of the state to be formulated and submitted to the Board by June 30.
Interacting with the Board’s chairman Kasindra Yadav, chief engineer D J Borgohain and secretary J Barman, who called on the Chief Minister on Saturday, Mr Tuki drew attention to the problems being faced by the Lower Subansiri Hydro Project (LSHP) of NHPC, which was initially started by the Board, official sources said here today.
In fact,the Board had done the preliminary survey and investigations for the project before it was handed over to NHPC.
Mr Tuki reminded that the LSHP was a pet project of the Brahmaputra Board, therefore it held some responsibilities towards it.
Expressing grave concerns over the agitation launched against the project by Assam-based organisations, the Chief Minister urged the Board to come out with technical clarifications as it had mooted the project years ago.
“You have the technical expertise and because of your initiation the project had started. Now you should explain the genuineness of the project to those opposing it,” Mr Tuki suggested.
He pointed that as Brahmaputra Board, a wing of the Union Ministry of Water Resources, was formed by an Act of Parliament in the early eighties to mitigate flood situations in the Brahmaputra Basin, it had the responsibility to enlighten the people on the advantages of its initiatives. “On Assam’s demands to mitigate floods in the plains, the Board had begun the project in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra. Now when people in Assam are opposing the same project,it is the duty of the Board to demystify their apprehensions in every possible forum,” the Chief Minister observed.
The Chief Minister also emphasised on the major role to be played by the Board now that the idea of North East West Resources Authority has almost been shelved, sources said.
‘You have to strengthen the Board by leaps and bounds and work in the interest of each individual state of the region with renewed vigour,” he advised.
Mr Yadav, who took over the Board as Chairman only a month ago, while assuring the CM of all possible assistance, informed that the Center was in process of revamping the Board. Soon the Board would have jurisdiction over river basins in upper reaches of West Bengal and the whole of Sikkim while the northeastern states were already under it.
In Arunachal, the Board will concentrate on five major river basins – Siang, Subansiri, Lohit, Dibang and Noa-Dihing. It will also focus on the Jiadhol river in Dhemaji of Assam, which during monsoons is a major communication bottleneck for those traveling to the districts of West Siang, Upper Siang and East Siang, sources said.
Mr Yadav informed the CM that a project on the Noa-Dihing River near Miao, under investigation by the Board, had been declared as a National Project by the Center. On the role of the Board, the chairman explained that it has been mandated to prepare master plans specifically for controlling floods in the Brahmaputra basin. These master plans were then passed on to the concerned states, based on which, the respective states prepare and implement projects.
He revealed that only when the states are unable to go ahead with the master plans, the Ministry of Water Resources engages the Board to implement the project, sources added. (UNI)