NEW DELHI, July 22 - The Centre on Monday admitted that national tenders for procurement of dredger and machinery have already been invited thrice but no proper tender was received. The department has now invited global tender and it is expected that work order for procurement of dredger could be issued shortly.
In reply to a question in Lok Sabha by BJP MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria clarified that there is no such proposal called �Brahmaputra Dressing, 2018�. The Water Resources Department, Government of Assam has not prepared any concept paper for dredging of the Brahmaputra river, he added.
A meeting on the proposal of dredging of the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries was held on August 23, 2016, which was chaired by Assam Chief Minister. The meeting was also attended by Dredging Corporation of India managing director Rajesh Tripathi.
A team of experts from the Dredging Corporation of India visited Assam in September, 2016. On July 21, 2017, Assam Water Resources Minister visited the Dredging Corporation of India headquarters in Visakhapatnam to discuss the strategy of dredging the Brahmaputra.
During the Prime Minister�s Assam visit on July 1, 2017, the State government requested the Union government�s support for dredging the Brahmaputra.
The report of the expert committee as above was received during September-October, 2017.
In a meeting held on December 4, 2017 and chaired by the Chief Minister, Assam, it was decided that the State water resources department may procure a dredger and other machinery for the purpose. The administrative approval for procurement of one dredger along with other machinery under SDRF was accorded in January, 2018 for an amount of Rs 18 crore.
As the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries have inadequate capacity of the river channel due to its braided nature leading to spilling of flood water and drainage congestion, the State government felt that dredging of the river would improve the scenario.
