DIBRUGARH, June 1 � People at Rohmaria (this place in the Dibrugarh district is synonymous with the erosion problem in Assam) are not on an agitation demanding flood and erosion protection these days. Given this �tranquillity�, the Narendra Modi Government too has chosen to ignore the flood and erosion problem at Rohmaria and Dibrugarh, by sitting in indecision on a detailed project report (DPR) since October last year. The DPR is with the Union Ministry of Water Resources and the Niti Ayog.
An integrated flood and river bank erosion management programme was prepared and approved by a competent advisory committee at its 124th meeting held on October 16 last year at New Delhi. The minutes of that meeting were put up before the Central Government on October 27 last year. It is lately learnt that the DPR now needs to be vetted by an �inter ministerial committee of the Centre.�
In the city, the Water Resources department, in conjunction with an agency, called FREMAA (Flood and River Bank Erosion Risk Management Agency of Assam) is in the process of raising and strengthening an 8.53 km portion of the Dibrugarh protection dyke. This work, funded by the World Bank, is progressing according to the set timelines. But here too, the Army is playing spoilsport by obstructing the embankment rehabilitation works on a 750-metre stretch at Pologround, saying the land there belongs to the defence forces. Now if the Brahmaputra water level soars this monsoon, Dibrugarh is in danger of inundation because the Army is preventing raising of the dyke. The bureaucrats of the Dibrugarh district administration have not done enough to make the Army see reason.
Given this pathetic state of affairs, the people here are looking with hope at the Gauhati High Court, where a public interest litigation is being heard in the matter. It is gathered that the petitioners in the PIL have prayed before the High Court for its intervention in getting the Army to get away from its standoff at Pologround here and not be a hindrance in the Brahmaputra dyke strengthening works.
The petitioners have also stated that largescale and illegal silt excavation and encroachment of the riverbank along the city have posed severe danger to the safety of Dibrugarh, in the event of a flood surge this monsoon. The Forest department had permitted silt excavation from Mohpualimora area, and that too 250 metres away from the river bank line. But the silt mafia in the city continues to dig the river at other places, in collusion with a certain sections of the media, the police and the civil machinery. Otherwise, there is no way that hundreds of mini trucks shuttle around the city, carrying silt for construction purposes. The Water Resources and Forest department officials said they do not want to throw a spanner in the city�s civil construction activity, but the silt traders need to keep the safety of Dibrugarh in mind, even as they do business.
