GUWAHATI, Aug 9 - Desiltation and cleaning activities have resumed in the Bondajan Beel here after the works were hampered due to the lockdown and floods for a month.
Removal of water hyacinth, garbage and silt was started on June 11 from the Maria�s Public School bridge point to the outfall in the river Brahmaputra. During the first phase of work, the Water Resources department covered 2.8 km out of the 3.5 km long water-body.
The Mechanical Division of the Water Resources department has been carrying out the desiltation work for the last three days under a Guwahati Development Department (GDD)-sponsored scheme.
�Due to flood, we have to restart the work from the beginning. It will take 15 days more to complete the work. Altogether 32 daily wage labourers have been engaged and two iron barge-mounted chain excavators have been deployed for desiltation and cleaning of the water-body,� said a Water Resources department (WRD) official on Sunday.
The desiltation and cleaning of the�beel�have been carried out under �Mission Flood Free Guwahati� project.
The official further added that the garbage thus generated has been dumped at a low-lying area near the�water-body�and it will be destroyed later by using some medicines or by burning it.
The water from the southeastern part of Guwahati falls into the Silsako Beel first and then runs into the Brahmaputra through the Bondajan channel.�
Guwahati has long been suffering due to urban floods caused by heavy rainfall in its catchment areas and this year, too, the city witnessed waterlogging in many areas.�The government has taken several major schemes to mitigate the disaster caused by artificial floods in the city.
The Guwahati Development Department (GDD) has, during the current year, come up with six major schemes, including cleaning and desilting of the Pamohi channel, Borsala Beel, Silsaku Beel, Bondajan Beel, Deepor Beel and the NBCC drain, to mitigate the intensity of artificial floods.�Moreover, the State government identified 39 areas of Guwahati vulnerable to waterlogging.
The areas were identified at a joint survey conducted by the GMC, Public Works department, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and NF Railway, among others. GMC Commissioner Devajyoti Hazarika said the Corporation has started cleaning of the drains and other construction works as proposed during the survey.
