GOSHANEEBARI (NOWBOICHA), June 22 - Two dykes constructed by two gaon panchayats of different rural development blocks to mitigate the onslaught of floodwaters of Singra on agriculture lands and human settlements have, on the contrary, become the cause of unprecedented inundation of about 14 villages in the Nowboicha Revenue Circle of Lakhimpur district.
The dykes, which have blocked the natural course of river Singra, have now left a wider area of Goshanee Pathar area marooned in floodwaters for more than a month. River Singra, which is known for its annual havoc of flood in Nowboicha region of Lakhimpur, has been in spate since early May due to heavy rain in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and has inundated a wide area of Rowdang Pathar, Rohali, Gelahati and Goshaneebari.
The flood damaged all the road communications in these villages and submerged houses, schools and other public places. The continued inundation of villages for the last one month have left the villagers in dire straits with shortages of daily essential commodities including pure drinking water and a fear of an outbreak of water-borne diseases.
Students are unable to attend their classes regularly as most of the schools are reeling under floodwaters in these regions which are just seven km from NH-15. According to the villagers here, the cause of this unprecedented deluge this time is the construction of two dykes on the right side of the Singra river.
One dyke was constructed by Barchala-Mahghuli-Paandhowa gaon panchyat near number-1 Barchala village with the supervision of Karunabari Developmental Block early this year. The second one was constructed by Ranganadi gaon panchyat through Nowboicha Development Block, some distances up on the river in Singra village.
It is learnt that both the Rural Development Blocks allowed the respective gaon panchyats to construct the dykes without consulting the district Water Resources Department, which already has constructed an embankment on the other side of the river. As the river became full in flow on the setting of the monsoon, the two dykes prevented it to flow on its original course. As a result, the flow of the river hit the left hand bank flooding an entire area.
On public demand, the Lakhimpur district administration pulled down the dyke constructed by the Barchala-Mahghuli-Paandhowa gaon panchyat last week after a brief resistance of some local villagers. However, the existence of the other dyke, constructed by Ranganadi gaon panchyat is still blocking the flow of the river water on its normal course and, hence, causing flood in Goshaneebari area.
Though the district authorities sent a team to remove the Singra dyke three days back, they were resisted by local villages fearing similar flood in their village. The villagers of Singra sought two days� time to decide on the removal of the dyke following a public meeting held at the office of Nowboicha Revenue Circle recently.
