Assam starts river dredging on pilot basis to mitigate floods

Guwahati, Jan 25: The Assam water resources department has started dredging the Jia Bhoroli river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, on a pilot basis in a bid to pave way for more such initiatives on other tributaries as an effective flood-control measure.

Inaugurating the dredging work at Bokagaon, Balipara in Sonitpur district on Tuesday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Each year, the river bed of Jia Bhoroli is getting shallower as a huge quantity of silt gets deposited there. The loss in depth of the river bed has resulted in decrease of water-carrying capacity and flooding by the river on both banks.”

To mitigate this problem, the chief minister said the water resources department has started dredging a 20-km stretch of the river which would gradually de-silt and restore the river depth.

“The state government is working towards a flood-free Assam and success of dredging in the Jia Bhoroli on a pilot basis would pave the way for more such initiatives on the Kundil, Jiadhol and Aai rivers as an effective flood-control measure,” Sarma informed.

The chief minister also stated that the water resources department has taken steps to build 1000 km of concrete embankments.

“A sum of Rs 1500 crore has been allotted to the department for flood management and the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded projects are also underway on various rivers,” he informed.