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Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has urged the Union water resources minsiter, Uma Bharti, to expedite the constitution of the Brahmaputra River Valley Authority and to delegate more powers to it for tackling the twin problems of flood and erosion in the state.
In a meeting with the Union minister held at his official residence yesterday evening, Gogoi said that the present Brahmaputra Board was unable to tackle the twin problems of flood and erosion in the Assam effectively. "The functioning of the Brahmaputra Board is not at all satisfactory and the Centre must accord priority towards the setting up of the Brahmaputra River Valley Authority which has been a long standing demand of the Assam government," Gogoi said.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the problem of erosion is more serious than floods and the Assam's economy that hinges on agriculture would be adversely affected if erosion continues to erode the land mass permanently. "A holistic approach has to be adopted for tackling flood and more importantly the serious problem of erosion," he added. Gogoi urged Bharti to sanction the flood management schemes submitted by the state government and to make it 90:10 funding. Gogoi also urged the Union minister to clear the Rs 1500 crore World Bank funded Assam Flood and Erosion Management Modernisation Project.
Gogoi asked Bharti for inclusion of erosion as natural calamity under the national disaster response fund. "The demand for inclusion of erosion as a natural calamity under the national disaster response fund has been a long standing demand of the state government. The Centre must view erosion as a serious problem and bring it under the ambit of national disaster response fund to provide the much-needed relief to the state," he added.
The issue of protection of river island Majuli and required steps for achieving World Heritage Site status for the rive island was also discussed in the meeting. Gogoi and Bharti agreed to work for preparing a comprehensive master plan in this regard.
The chief minister also stressed on inclusion of flood moderation as an important component in the construction of hydro power projects and to build storage reservoirs of adequate capacity in the upper reaches for tackling flood, generation of electricity, irrigation and other purposes. He said the Centre to involve Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and National Institute of Technology (NIT) for technical vetting in implementation of centrally funded flood and erosion projects in the state.
