‘Brahmaputra Board has failed to protect Majuli from floods’

‘Brahmaputra Board has failed to protect Majuli from floods’

From A Correspondent JORHAT, June 10 – Once welcomed as the saviour of the people in Majuli subdivision, the Brahmaputra Board has quickly fallen out of favour, apparently due to its failure to control the twin problems of floods and erosion in the river island. The Central agency, which has been entrusted with executing anti-erosion schemes to save the seat of satriya culture since 2004, stands accused of wasting huge funds and delivering nothing on the ground.Venting ire on the style of functioning of the Brahmaputra Board, office-bearers of All Assam Students’ Union on Saturday maintained that it has not been able to secure permanent protection for a single part of Majuli during the last four years. Given the task of implementing the three-phase anti-erosion project, valued at Rs 86 crore, the Board has already spent Rs 41 crore on the first two phases without even completing half of the works, president of All Jorhat District Students’ Union Biren Saikia told reporters here.Serving an ultimatum on the Brahmaputra Board, the Jorhat AASU unit asked it to work with a sense of purpose and on an urgent basis. “As of now, we feel that the top brass of the Board has been hand in glove with local contractors in misappropriating the government funds,” Saikia, who hails from Majuli, said. The Board will be held solely responsible if any disaster occurs in the island in the coming rainy season. “This will leave us with no other option than to demand the eviction of the Board itself,” the AJDSU president warned.Pointing out the anomalies in the nature of the anti-erosion works, Saikia said that at least two contractors left their projects half-way, forcing the Board authorities to call fresh tenders. He also questioned the fate of the five new schemes for installation of RCC porcupines at Bessamara, Kamalabari, Bhakat Chapori-Pokimuri, Bengenati and Sumoimari-Bhogpur which were approved in March this year. A sum of Rs 4.99 crore has been sanctioned for these schemes.The AJDSU president stressed that work on these schemes got under way only recently contrary to the Jorhat Deputy Commissioner’s claim in April that the work had already been initiated then. The completion of the schemes within their respective timeframes will not be possible in the next two months as the monsoon season will set in, he argued. AASU assistant general secretary Nilofar Rahman said that the master plan prepared by the Brahmaputra Board for the protection of the geographical area of Majuli was itself a half-done exercise as it did not include south and lower parts of the island. He called for a new strategy on the part of the Brahmaputra Board to control floods and erosion. AJDSU general secretary Dhrubajyoti Hazarika flayed the alleged inaction on the part of the local MP and MLA with regard to the issue. Training their guns on the Chief Minister, the AASU activists said that despite Gogoi’s announcement in September last year that the State Water Resources Department and the Brahmaputra Board would work together to protect the island, there were no immediate signs of such cooperation between the two agencies. They also sounded sceptical on the assurances made by Union Minister of Water Resources Saifuddin Soz during his visit to Majuli last year.