In view of the largescale disaster caused by the river Beki with respect to flood and erosion along its meandering course, Assam Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi on Tuesday held a meeting at Raj Bhavan and reviewed the progress of implementation of different flood management programme.
The Governor held the meeting with the additional chief secretary Water Resources, Syedin Abbasi, CEO Flood and River Erosion Management Agency of Assam (FREMAA) Siddharth Singh and other senior officials.
Beki being the trans-boundary river, sometimes heavy downpour in upper reaches causes this river to be over flowing, leading to large scale erosion on both sides of its meandering course in Lower Assam districts namely Barpeta and Baksa.
The river and its drainage channels during the rainy season cause high magnitude of flood and resultant erosion leading to loss of lives, agricultural lands and properties.
Taking note of this perpetual annual catastrophe by the river Beki, Prof Mukhi close on the heels of his Baksa and Barpeta visits on July 30 last, convened the meeting to chart out a modus operandi and review the progress of flood management programme to tame the river and help the people living alongside and protect themselves from the perennial flood and erosion caused by Beki.
In the meeting, additional chief secretary, Syedin Abbasi gave a power point presentation and informed the Governor that during the flood of 2004, there were avulsion in the river courses.
The Hakua and Manas channel choked up at Mathanguri necessitating Beki to discharge more volume of water from Mathanguri point onwards.
Hence the discharge in river Beki increased enormously and the situation further aggravated during the flood of 2007 leading to downstream devastation including imminent threat to Manas National Park.
As the erosion perpetrated by the river continued unabated which threatened the strategic road to Manas National park at Safakamar area, under Barpeta Water Resources Division, the Governor took stock of the four protection measures to protect a bank length of 2278 m being undertaken by Water Resources Department.
The Governor also assessed the progress of two schemes taken by the State Government to check critical erosion problem at Gamariguri and Barapeta Cattle Farm.
This will protect a length of 258 m at Gamariguri and 780 m at Barapeta Cattle Farm.
He asked the department to ensure their expeditious implementation.
Moreover, with respect to a project namely Integrated Flood and Erosion Management of Manas and river Beki in Baksa and Barpeta district, the Governor took stock of the project and said that he would pursue the matter with the Centre for its early approval.
It may be noted that the project envisaged anti erosion measures at 25 locations and raising and strengthening of embankments for a total of nearly 17 KM in Barpeta and Baksa district.
The Governor also said that for finding out a durable solution of flood and erosion caused by Beki, a study on Beki in line with studying the course of the Brahmaputra should be undertaken.
He believes that the scientific study would help a great deal in taming the Beki and helping people from its flood and erosion.