MANGALDAI, April 16 - The Deputy Commissioner of Darrang district Ashok Kumar Barman has forewarned that he would take a serious view of unwarranted delay in construction or restoration work of embankments constructed by the Mangaldai Water Resource Division.
Earlier, problems arose from an alleged unholy nexus between a section of contractors and a few corrupt officials of the department.
The Deputy Commissioner has already directed the Executive Engineer of the Water Resource Division to convene an urgent meeting of the contractors involved in the ongoing flood-damage projects in the district to review the matter in a threadbare manner.
The Deputy Commissioner issued the aforementioned verbal directive following his visit to assess the physical progress of the project for restoration of flood damage of Noa river R/B embankment (closing of breaches at ch. 4850 metre under SDRF 2017-2018 in Rajghat area under Mangaldai Revenue Circle, on Thursday afternoon.
The State Government has already sanctioned an amount of Rs 360 lakh. With this sanctioned amount, earth work will be carried out in a stretch of 6,679 metres while anti-erosion works will cover 150 metres on the embankment.
The Deputy Commissioner accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioner Bidyut Bikash Bhagawati while inspecting the site of work questioned the Executive Engineer of the Water Resource Division the reason for delay in completion of the work. He not only asked the Executive Engineer to convene an emergent meeting with the contractors, but also directed him to expedite the pace of work without compromising on the quality and volume of the work.
He also pointed out the numerous rat holes present in the entire stretch of the embankment and instructed the officials to block them on a war footing so that the rising water level during the flood season cannot weaken and subsequently breach the embankment.
The Deputy Commissioner also directed the officials to lay stress on other nature-friendly measures like plantation of bamboo and other such variety of grasses outside the toe area of the embankment in order to support the embankment along with the earth work.
The DC also visited the premises of Rajghat High School and discussed with the officials present feasible measures that could be implemented in order to give respite to the students of the institution from flood-induced ravages during each monsoon season. The protective measure suggested was construction of a ring bundh with the convergence of Water Resource and P&RD Department.
