GUWAHATI, Aug 2 - The All Assam Water Resources Contractors� Association alleged that the failure of the Union Government to recognise the flood problem of the State and its not releasing adequate funds for undertaking scientific schemes for solving this problem once for all, among others, are at the root of this problem remaining out of control so far.
It demanded recognition to the flood problem of the State as a national problem, constitution of an autonomous Brahmaputra Commission and execution of the flood control and anti-erosion projects after conducting model studies under local experts and adequate funds for flood control and anti-erosion-related projects in such a manner that implementation of these projects could be started by January every year.
The Association said in a statement here on Thursday that all the departments and the ministers concerned should sit together to analyse the factors responsible for the present sorry state of affairs concerning floods.
It resented the comment made by the State�s Finance Minister recently at Bheragaon Tengaguri in Morigaon district. The Minister said that for the deplorable condition of the Bheragaon Tengaguri embankment, the local contractors engaged by the Water Resources Department (WRD) to construct the dyke are to be held responsible.
The Association described the above comment of the Finance Minister as baseless. For, the Bheragaon Tengaguri dyke was not built by the Water Resources Department�s contractors. Because of the apathy of both the State and the Union governments and the lack of coordination among the State Government�s departments concerned, no dyke could be built or repaired in this particular Morigaon area during the 2017-�18 and 2018-�19 fiscals.
The Rs 10 crore dyke project in this area undertaken under the SDRF head was affected by erosion in 2016-�17 fiscal at the implementation stage as the required protection measures to save the project from erosion was not taken.
Later on, the responsibility for protecting this area was handed over to the Brahmaputra Board. Since the Brahmaputra Board did not initiate any step to protect this area, the Morigaon district administration repaired the dyke with an investment of Rs 29 crore during the 2017-�18 fiscal. But this bid too failed.
The WRD was authorised to implement a Rs 15 crore project in this area under the SOPD head during the 2018-�19 fiscal. But because of the approach of the rainy season, the contractors working under the WRD refused to execute the scheme. The Morigaon district administration then engaged the contractors working under the MGNREGA schemes.
