NORTH LAKHIMPUR, Dec 3 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi dedicated the Rs 141- crore Matmara dyke in Dhakuakhana subdivision of Lakhimpur district to the people at a function held at Sissi-Tekeliputa of Matmara area this morning.
Dedicating the dyke, which has the components of a five km-long geo-tube dyke, raising and strengthening the existing earthen dyke in an around 14 km-long stretch in the upstream and downstream areas of the geo-tube dyke and installation of porcupine screens, the Chief Minister claimed that his Government was pro-rural people.
His Government has built 15,000 kms of pucca roads in the rural areas, replaced 1,500 timber bridges with RCC ones between 2001 and till date, said the Chief Minister.
State�s Water Resources (WR) Minister Prithibi Majhi, who accompanied the Chief Minister, in his address described the moment of dedicating the Matmara dyke to the people as a historic one. The Matmara geo-tube-dyke is first of its kind in the country, said the Minister.
The Chief Minister was also accompanied by Cultural Affairs Minister and Dhakuakhana MLA Bharat Chandra Narah, Additional Chief Secretary Surajit Mitra, WRD Secretary N C Das and RS Douglas, the MD of the Malaysian company M/S Emaskiara. The Malaysian company implemented the geo-tube-dyke portion of the project.
The five km-long geo-tube dyke of the project, which is designed as a retirement dyke, is erected between Baghchuk and West Balijan part of Matmara. The work for the project started in March 2009.
However, the floods in the end part of June that year affected the implementation of the project. And the Malaysian company failed to implement its part of the project within the 100 days as stipulated in the tender agreement.
The project with the three components of a geo-tube dyke covered by geo-mat, the
geo-tube apron, RCC porcupine and raising and strengthening of the existing earthen dyke, was conceived following demands to save Dhakuakhana and Majuli areas from devastating floods.
It was alleged that there was no major repair of the Brahmaputra dyke in Dhakuakhana area for the past about 50 years and the devastating flood of 2008 caused a major breach in the dyke leading to devastating impact on Dhakuakhana and Majuli areas.
It is expected to provide protection against flood for 52,000 hectares of land, 200 villages and 5,00,000 people and thus to improve the socio-economic condition in Dhakuakhana and Majuli sub-divisions.
Meanwhile, the RCC porcupine screen launched in the upstream areas of the geo-tube dyke has resulted reclamation of 1,050 acres of land in
front of the geo-tube dyke pushing the spillway channel of the Brahmaputra towards its main channel. Moreover, the geo-tube apron of the project is so laid that it is expected to check scouring and thus save the geo-tube dyke, said the Water Resources Department (WRD) sources.
