GUWAHATI, Dec 9 - The State Water Resources Department (WRD) today termed as baseless claims made by certain quarters that the water level of the Brahmaputra is receding in an unprecedented manner.
Talking to this correspondent, a highly placed official source in the WRD said that the water level of the Brahmaputra is not receding abnormally. The water level of the river is receding at a normal rate as witnessed during this period of the year, he said.
Meanwhile, at the instance of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Director General of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) AP Rout today collected water samples of the Brahmaputra from 15 locations between Jonai and Dhubri and sent them to the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and IIT Guwahati. Sonowal had issued the directive in this regard following reports that the Brahmaputra water was turning black and muddy in parts of the State.
The water samples have been sent to the leading institutes to conduct tests for contents, both physical and chemical, and to determine the causes responsible for this unnatural development. The institutes will submit their reports to the State government for taking remedial steps, an official press release here this evening stated.
Sonowal has also made an appeal to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to extend support in bailing out the State from this water quality-related crisis. The Union Home Minister has assured Sonowal of steps to raise the issue with China considering the trans-boundary character of the Brahmaputra, the lifeline of the people of a vast area of the State.
State Water Resources Minister Keshav Mahanta has also written to the Union Water Resources Minister requesting him to provide the State with a detailed report on the actual cause of the Brahmaputra water turning turbid. He also requested the Union WRD Minister to share the data on the water quality tests conducted by the Central Water Commission in the aftermath of the Brahmaputra water turning abnormally turbid.
Mahanta also wrote to the Union External Affairs Minister to take up the matter at the appropriate level and to protect the interest of the State. He also mentioned that the general apprehension in the State is that there might be some interventions on the Brahmaputra in its Tibet course.
