GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal urged the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India to take up a special programme for flood and erosion management in Assam.
He requested the Ministry to convert 4474 km of old embankments of the State into “Road cum Embankments “. The Chief Minister made the requests while speaking at the review meeting of the 10th High Powered Review Board of Brahmaputra Board in Guwahati on Saturday.
Sonowal said that the State government constructed nearly 4,474 km of embankments since 1954. Most of the embankments have become vulnerable due to expiry of the design period, he said and requested the Ministry to take up steps for converting the old embankments into “Road cum Embankments.
Stating that river erosion in Assam is of serious magnitude, the Chief Minister said that the State had already lost several hectares plain land together with loss of many public and private infrastructures. He said that erosion was also systematically destroying the chain of embankments, which provide relief from annual floods. He said that there was an urgent need to look into the matter for a permanent solution to protect the State from further erosion.
He also sought support from the Jal Shakti Ministry for inclusion of erosion in the admissible list of calamities for assistance under NDRF and SDRF. He said the matter has already been taken up with the Home Ministry.
The Chief Minister also underlined need for taking up scientific and corrective dredging of Brahmaputra, Barak and their tributaries in a time bound manner for effective erosion management.
Moreover, highlighting the need for study of flash flood caused by the rivers flowing from Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan, he stressed on efforts for soil conservation and catchment area management in the hilly states.
He also underlined the need for sharing hydro-meteorological data, adopting latest technique of data analysis and flood early warning system and requested the Ministry to take steps for constitution of North East Data Centre at Guwahati.
The review meeting was chaired by Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Ratan Lal Kataria, ministers of north eastern States, chairman of Brahmaputra Board, officials of union government and governments of the north eastern states were also present.