Subansiri erosion ravages Lakhimpur’s Pub Telahi amid administrative deadlock

North Lakhimpur, Nov 30: The Pub Telahi Gaon Panchayat area of Lakhimpur district, a riverine area of Lakhimpur close to Majuli has been affected by massive river bank erosion by the Subansiri. Intervention by local authorities to address the issue has been slow and delayed thanks to the the technical issue emerging from the merger of the Gaon Panchayat to the district jurisdiction of Majuli from Lakhimpur and its inclusion to a newly delimited LAC within Lakhimpur district.

Unabetted erosion by the Subansiri river has been affecting the Pub Telahi region of Lakhimpur district during this dry season after wreaking havoc during the last monsoon. Agriculture lands in several hundred hectares have been lost to the river bank erosion in 10 wards of the Gaon Panchayat during this period. The worst affected areas are Aserakota, Adisuti, Gowalbari, Major Chapori, Singimari, Bamoyachuk, Na-Ali, Tamargaon, Dafalakota and Korha Chapori where agriculture lands with standing crops of black lentil and mustard seeds have been devoured by the fast-advancing river on its right-hand side banks.

However, this riverine and flood-prone area of Lakhimpur district has been in a unique awkward position due to the delimitation of the LACs in the state and its administrative transfer to the territory of Majuli district.

The Pub Telahi Gaon Panchayat of Lakhimpur district, which was earlier inside the 111 Lakhimpur LAC, was included in the newly formed 75 Nowboicha (SC) LAC of the district following delimitation exercises in Assam in 2023.

This was followed by the secession of the Pub Telahi Gaon Panchayat from Lakhimpur district to Majuli district after two years of the delimitation. The Pub Telahi Gaon Panchayat, due to long standing local demand, was added to Majuli district vide ECF No. 180386/131-A, dated 19/02/2025.

But the already implemented delimitation exercise has made this district transfer of the Gaon Panchayat technically difficult to make State interventions on various issues and policies. As a result the General Administration Department, Govt. of Assam vide EFC No.180386/132 kept its earlier order of putting Pub Telahi Gaon Panchayat to administrative jurisdiction of Majuli district in abeyance until further order.

This has left the villagers at a distance away from the district headquarter North Lakhimpur to reach out for assistants required for problems like river bank erosion.

At the backdrop of this electoral and administrative tussle, the villagers of Pub Telahi Gaon Panchayat are facing the onslaught of the massive bank erosion by river Subansiri that have been pushing them to the corner.