GUWAHATI, Sept 17 � Engineers of the Water Resources Department (WRD) of Dhemaji district are apprehensive of major changes in the Subansiri river under the impact of the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Power Project (LSHEP). They maintain that the power project is fraught with the danger of turning the hitherto serene river Nanoi into a turbulent one.
WRD engineers of Dhemaji told this correspondent that under the impact of the August 15, 1950 earthquake, an artificial lake developed on the Subansiri at Deonala, where the LSHEP�s Gerukamukh dam is now being built.
This lake breached at around 8pm four days later, killing around 1,000 people and flooding the entire area of the then Dhemaji Sub-division of Lakhimpur district and a part of the Lakhimpur Sub-division, including parts of the Dhakuwakhana area.
The 1950 earthquake changed the geo-hydrological configuration of the then Dhemaji and Lakhimpur Sub-divisions, said the engineers.
The Nanoi is so far a serene river. But it is feared that the LSHEP may activate Mingmang, one of its contributing channels and thus turn the river into a turbulent one, they said.
The Mingmang is located about two to three kilometers upstream of Subansiri river. But when the 116-metre high dam of the LSHEP would be operated, some amount of afflux water will flow to the Mingmang and activate this small channel into a vigorous one, adding ferocity to Nanoi.
Subansiri was originally flowing through the area where the Gogamukh Police Station is located at present. It migrated 6 km westward and started flowing through the Chauldhowaghat after the August 19, 1950 incident of failure of the dam, which was created by the August 15, 1950 earthquake.
It also took another westward turn near Dhakuwakhana Basudevthan, after flowing 30 kms southward from Chauldhowaghat.
In 1992-93, it migrated 8 kms westward from Basudevthan towards North Lakhimpur town, flowing 6 km down from the Chauldhowaghat National Highway-52 Bridge.
In the process, it grabbed the course of the small stream Ghagar and started flowing westward, devastating the Kheranibari and Jugalpur areas to meet the Brahmaputra through its original course, beyond Khaga and Magurmari villages, said the Dhemaji WRD engineers.
