Amidst repair work at Bethukandi, simmering worries of flood haunt Silchar residents
Silchar, March 5: The unprecedented flood last year wreaked havoc with river Barak flowing right through major parts of Silchar, the second biggest urban sprawl in the state, courtesy, an alleged breach in the embankment at Bethukandi, a place on the edge of the river on the outskirts of the town.
Around eight months later, with rainy days round the corner, Bethukandi is once again the centre of discussion as people of Silchar and sub-urban areas echo the simmering worries of another spell of inundation especially owing to lack of attention been given to the allegedly breached portion of the embankment by concerned authorities.
However, in a recent development, Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department Borsing Rongpi had visited Silchar a week ago and took stock of the work to repair and the dykes and embankments. When contacted, K Zaman, Executive Engineer, Water Resources Department told The Assam Tribune that under State Owned Priority Development (SOPD-G), a sum of Rs 56 crore has been sanctioned for the repair work of dykes and mending of the sluice gates from Sonabarighat upto Tarapur and work is being done in full swing and on a round the clock basis.
"At the moment filling work with selected soil is in progress and at Bethukandi, work is in progress at the diversion embankment. We will also work on raising and strengthening of the embankments wherein flood water had overflown and in places where raising and strengthening would not be possible, flood barriers would be set up. The entire work is being centrally monitored by honourable Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma sir and also honourable Minister of Water Resources Pijush Hazarika sir is keeping a close watch on the developments. We are hopeful of completing the tasks before the rainy season starts," Zaman said.
Interestingly, the repair work through filling work with 'selected soil' was webbed in controversy after it was allegedly found that truck loads of soil from the edge of the river bank (poli maati) was used for filling up. In the backdrop of objections raised from the locals, when asked about the reasons for such violation of government norms when soil from paddy field is supposed be used for the task, Zaman clarified that while a few trucks of poli maati might have been dumped, use of poli maati based soil has been stopped with immediate effect and strict vigil is being maintained in filling up work with soil from paddy field.
Meanwhile, members of March for Science, Silchar Chapter have claimed that based on their survey of the areas affected by the last year's flood, besides Bethukandi, several other spots across the town are vulnerable and need to be mended to avert a possible repeat of the 2022 flood woes.
Krishanu Bhattacharjee, a frontline member of the body, while elaborating on their study, told media persons, " even as measures in the form of sand filling are being initiated as a form of flood control, spells of heavy shower might wither away all the sand. After what happened in 2022, the present situation puts the assurances given by the Government to work on priority to tackle the situation, into serious doubts. We are largely in doubt as to how good the work will be from Sonaimukh to Tarapur and whether or not the officials engaged can wrap up the work before the rainy season."
Kamal Chakraborty, Haridas Dutta and other members of March for Science claimed that besides Bethukandi, the river water entered through Berenga, Badripar, Sonaimukh, Rongpur, Angarjur, Sripur, Badrighat, Raipur, Bagadahar, Topkhana, Janiganj Kalibarichor, Tarapur Daspara, Nathpara and other areas as well. They added to say that effective measures are needed in all these locations for which a citizens' meet will be held soon to trigger public opinion to echo the demand.
