NORTH LAKHIMPUR, May 14 � A 20-metre-long stretch of rope gabions constructed on the bank of the Brahmaputra in Sisi-Tekeliphuta in Dhakuwakhona subdivision of Lakhimpur district was swept away by a rising current of the river on Tuesday night.
The gabions were constructed as a part of bank-protection measures by the Water Resources Department on the Sisi-Tekeliphuta embankment off the Brahmaputra from its chain area of 22,000 metres to 26,600 metres stretch under a Rs 155 crore mega project for erosion control.
A 20-metre stretch of the bank-protection work consisting of six gabions with 16 geo-bags inside was swept away in the river in Madarguri area of the embankment.
It may be mentioned that gabions are engineered welded wire mesh products for earth retention and soil stabilization meant for erosion control and flood control. Gabions are wire fabric containers, uniformly partitioned, of variable size, interconnected with other similar containers and filled with stone at the site of use, to form flexible, permeable, monolithic structures such as retaining walls, sea walls, channel linings, revetments and weirs for earth retention.
In the case in Sisi-Tekeliphuta, the gabions hold the geo-bags filled with sand. This high-tech anti-erosion project of State Water Resources Department was contracted to Yojaka (India) Pvt Ltd, a Mangaluru-based MNC. Ever since the company started its work of bank-protection in Dhakuwakhona, there has been allegations of complicity and poor standard of works by various local organizations and the public.
Organizations like TMPK have alleged that river silt or muddy earth was filled inside the geo-bags instead of pristine sands by the company. It also has been alleged that Yojaka violated the specification of filling minimum 126 kgs of sand inside a geo-bag in this bank protection work in Dhakuwakhona. As the current of the Brahmaputra swept away the gabions with geo-bags inside, a huge crater was formed on the river bank creating panic among the local villagers. On Wednesday morning, hundreds of villagers and TMPK activists gheraoed the officials of the Water Resources Department and Yojaka (India) Pvt Ltd for two hours in protest against the poor work on the bank-protection project. A visiting team comprising WRD executive engineer Arun Dev Sarma, assistant executive engineer Subal Das, Project In-charge of Yojaka, Jai Praksh Bharti were gheraoed by angry villagers at Modarguri. The angry locals also complained against complicity of Yojaka officials Suresh Pujari and Bhima Rao besides Bharti.