Taking strong note of the delay in repairing embankments along the Brahmaputra and other rivers that were damaged during last year’s floods, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has set April 30 as the deadline for completing the embankment repairing works in the state.
The Chief Minister on Thursday directed to all the Executive Engineers of Water Resources Department while reviewing the status of progress of embankment repairing works in a meeting which was held in Dispur.
Chief Minister Sonowal also directed all concerned Deputy Commissioners to place demand for release of fund for embankment repairing works which were carried out under SDRF and already completed to the Revenue and Disaster Management Department expeditiously so that fund could be released to the contractors within next ten days.
The Chief Minister also reviewed other important schemes presently being implemented by the department in the state.
The floods in 2017 had caused immense loss to Assam with the state government estimates saying over 36.67 lakh people were affected. The Brahmaputra and its tributaries, on the other hand, caused several breaches to embankments.
Water Resources Minister Keshav Mahanta, Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Sanjay Lohia, Commissioner & Secretary of Revenue Department Rajesh Prasad, Secretary Water Resources Department, Chief Engineer of Water Resources and several other senior officers of the department were present in the meeting.