Assam Tribune: The Planning Commission has accorded investment clearance to implement anti-erosion works to protect Brahmaputra dykes. This project is estimated to cost Rs 8.35 crore.
The dyke works relate to 69 km (Uluberi) and 78 km (Borigaon). The proposed scheme envisages anti-erosion measures for a 9000-m long reach on the south bank of the Brahmaputra river. The proposed scheme has been framed to protect an area of 8,000 hectares comprising cultivated and homestead land including public and government properties. An estimated 1.50 lakh people are likely to be benefited from the scheme, official sources said.
The project is scheduled to be completed by 2011-12 and Plan accounts will be closed by March 31, 2012. The project will be executed as per the approved outlays in the State Annual Plans. The State Finance Department will restrict the expenditure to the approved cost and no additional expenditure beyond the approved cost may be permitted unless the revised estimate gets approved.
It may be recalled that addressing the National Development Council meeting recently, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had underlined the urgent need to repair the embankments. After the heavy flood in 1954, according to the National Policy on Flood, embankments were constructed in Assam as immediate measures during the 1950s and 1960s.
After the great earthquake of 1950, the rivers of Assam lost their dynamic equilibrium and started causing bank erosion in different reaches and this continues to be a major problem which has affected the State’s economy.
Since 1954, Assam has lost approximately 4.27 lakh hectares of land mass due to bank erosion, which accounts for 7.40 per cent of the plains area of the State.
