Guwahati: Chief Minis-ter Tarun Gogoi urged Union Minister for Water Resources, River Develo-pment and Ganga Reju-venation Uma Bharti to expedite the constitution of the Brahmaputra River Valley Authority and to delegate more powers to it for tackling the twin problems of flood and erosion in the State.
In a meeting held at his official residence on Tues-day evening, Gogoi pointed out that the Brahmaputra Board was unable to tackle the twin problems of flood and erosion in the State effectively.
“The functioning of the Brahmaputra Board is not at all satisfactory and the Centre must accord priority towards the setting up of the Brahmaputra River Valley Authority which has been a long standing dema-nd of the State Govern-ment,” he added.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the pro-blem of erosion is more serious than floods and the State’s economy that hin-ges on agriculture would be adversely affected if rivers continue to erode the land mass of the State. Gogoi urged Bharti to sanction the flood management schemes submitted by the State Government and to make it 90:10 funding. In the same breathe, the Chief Minister urged the Water Resources Minister to clear the Rs.1500 crore World Bank funded Assam Flood and Erosion Management Modernistion Project.
Gogoi asked Bharti for inclusion of erosion as natural calamity under the national disaster response
fund. “The demand for inclusion of erosion as a natural calamity under the national disaster response fund has been a long standing demand of the State Government.
The Centre must view erosion as a serious problem and bring it under the ambit of national disaster response fund to provide the much-needed relief to the State,” he added.
The Chief Minister also stressed on inclusion of flood moderation as an important component in the
construction of hydro power projects and to build storage reservoirs of adequate capacity in the upper reaches for tackling flood, generation of electricity, irrigation and other purposes.
The Chief Minister urged the Water Resources Minister to involve IIT and NIT for technical vetting in
implementation of Centrally funded flood and erosion projects in the State.
Gogoi further called upon Bharti to take up flood and erosion protection measures expeditiously to protect the river island Majuli from the fury of the Brahmaputra and to push through the proposal submitted by the State Government during the UPA regime for getting the coveted UNESCO World Heritage tag for Majuli.
