By Ibu Sanjeeb Garg
A large number of people in India are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. In their quest for livelihoods every cropping season they look upwards to the sky for rain. Annual onset of rains in India has a major role in the socio political narrative of the country. A good monsoon for the country brings hope to the government and the policymakers and relief to the farmers. However, the same monsoon signals the onset of yearly troubles for Assam with lakhs of villages becoming victims of floods. According to experts, Assam loses almost Rs 200 crore annually due to floods. It has lost 7% of its agricultural land to flood-induced erosion since 1950.Nearly 40% of the total area of the state is flood prone.
In 2016 alone, within a few weeks of onset of monsoon, the effects are there for everyone to see. In a matter of days, almost one lakh people have been displaced from their homes. And this is a situation, when rains are expected to continue for some time more. The worst affected districts are the Upper Assam districts of Lakhimpur and Jorhat. Floods in Assam are not a consequence of any human activity. Assam has a large share of annual precipitation in the country. Records of the last century show the river Brahmaputra increasing in size. From about 4000 sq kms in the 1920’s the Brahmaputra has widened to almost 6000 sq kms today which makes it one of the deadliest rivers during the monsoons. The heavy monsoon rains over the catchments of Himalayan and Patkai ranges pausing strength to gently sloping narrow valleys into the plains further compounds the problems of floods.
It is in this context that flood management must be seen as a major component towards bringing in better socio- economic development of Assam. This is because floods do not have an economic impact alone but impinges hugely on human development as well. Thus flood management in Assam has to be seen as a continuous process and not as a fire fighting measure – an exercise to be replicated every year. This has three components immediate, short term and long term measures of managing floods which would thrive on the twin ethos of mitigation and adaptation.
The immediate and short terms measures would encompasses those that kick into place once the floods hit a particular area. The first step is of course providing relief to the people. The establishment of the National Disaster Response Force has created an effective tool towards first response once floods hit a particular area. Then health management becomes an important component of flood management. Very often in floods a large number of people succumb to water borne diseases as water resources become contaminated. Thus it is imperative that health management is given due priority while dealing with flood management.
Short term measures would include those which can be implemented just before the monsoons are scheduled to hit the country. They can include mock drills which would entail a particular pattern in which people movement must take place once floods hit a particular area. Local schools can act as a first response unit because often people are aware of the location of the local school in the vicinity. Any other high ground can also be identified which can act as the first response area once floods hit a particular place. A very important component of flood management today is technology and more specifically the power of geographical mapping. Today India has one of the best satellite mapping systems of the world. Using historical data that has been systematically stored for quite a number of years, flooding pattern can be drawn while incorporating other variables such as rainfall. While such projects are already on, there is a need to systematically percolate this information downwards so that smaller units of administration can arm themselves effectively.
At the same time, accountability must be brought into the flood control narrative. In the past few years an innovative system of awarding road contracts has been in vogue. Contractors are often made responsible for the quality that they have delivered and those who fail the quality test are often blacklisted. Similar measures towards those who construct embankments can be taken as well, in the form of part payment till completion; one year performance review and black listing of a particular contractor in case an embankment fails the minimum quality test.
It is impossible to change either the course of Brahmaputra or regulate the amount of rainfall in Assam which makes it absolutely imperious that adaptation measures and mitigation which look at the long term timelines are perhaps most effective in flood management and control. In the past a number of innovative measures have been launched to streamline flood management in Assam. In Kamarkuchi area of Nalbari district Kiramat Tubular Sand Filled Mattress has been used to fight against the onslaught of River Pagladia (named so because it changes its course frequently like a madman!). Geo tubes are being used in construction of embankment in Dhakuakhana because the sand found in northern banks is basically sandy and lacks the stability and cohesion needed in an embankment. Vetiver Grass is now grown on an experimental basis in embankments of Morigaon district in middle Assam and they have yielded positive results. As a latest initiative, a team of experts is being sent to China to study its flood control measures which have been able to rein in River Hwang Ho ( Yellow River) which was once called China’s sorrow.
Despite all this the most important component towards flood management and control has to be management of the water itself. The first step towards this is free flow of water. A lot of natural waterways which could act as natural reservoirs for the river water have been encroached upon; they need to be freed. The char areas where a large number of people have their homes, often fall victim to the floods. When they move to the narrow riverine areas they often settle in the natural embankments thus raising the level of threat to themselves as well as those areas in the years of subsequent floods. To ensure free movement of water, people from the char areas have to be relocated in a phased manner without disturbing the natural flow of the river. Inadequate countryside drainages must be rearranged into proper grid systems so that the flow of water is distributed and not concentrated on a particular area.
The ambitious North East Water Authority ( NEWRA) could not see the light of the day because of differences between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.It had proposed to create one single authority that would look after irrigation, power and water resources in the NorthEast. Thereafter Brahmaputra Board was asked to don the mantle of flood control and management in Assam. However flood management and control cannot be achieved by the Brahmaputra board alone. It is a problem that affects each person of Assam as well and thus all stakeholders including the academia, premier institutions like IIT Guwahati, NIT Silchar , AEC as well as the people in the hinterlands have to come together to hem out a complete solution.
(The views expressed are personal)