With monsoon just staring at the face, the Dibrugarh district administration is yet to wake up to the perennial problem of waterlogging.
The work of Dibrugarh Town Protection (DTP) drain was stalled since November last year after the Madrid based Corsan Corviam Construction Company left the project.
After the work on the drain was stalled, the district administration has done nothing to re-start the work.
The Spanish company was awarded the Rs 169.89 crore contract on February 20, 2014 under the Assam Urban Infrastructure Investment Programme.
Work on the 9.5-km long drain began on June 5, 2014, but the pace remained so sluggish that even after crossing the May 22, 2017 deadline, less than 20 per cent of the work could be finished.
Then suddenly, in November 2017, the construction company left the project midway after its parent organization filed for bankruptcy.
The State Government has already initiated process of rebidding for the multi-crore project.
The people of the Dibrugarh town have been facing acute water-logging every year.
In 2015, the entire Dibrugarh town was under water for 10 days at a stretch.
Lifeboats had to ply on the roads instead of vehicles.
“It seems that the Dibrugarh administration is hapless to sort out the issue after the Madrid based company left the project. We had witnessed a harrowing time in 2015, due to acute waterlogging in Dibrugarh and didn’t want to face the same problem. The entire town was flooded for several days because of the pathetic drainage system. But the project was given to the Spanish company and we are hopeful that the flood problem will be solved but the company left the project,” said Nobojyoti Baruah, a resident of the town.
Sources said Dibrugarh district administration is not finding any alternative to solve the issue.
“Due to massive administrative failure, the work on DTP drain stopped. We have written letters to the higher authority about the stopped working on DTP drain but they directed us to not do anything on DTP drain because it is a failure and other company was related with the project. We are not getting any coordination from Assam Urban infrastructure investment programme and due to that the project was in a limbo. If we got permission we can clean the drain,” said an official from the Water Resource Department.
An official source said unchecked encroachment and lack of maintenance has hampered the normal functioning of the drain and during monsoon it gets clogged as a result the town become waterlogged.
“It has been decided that the whole DTP drain will be covered with box culvert but a section of the society has rejected the idea and pleaded for open drain. Lots of discussion was held for box culvert and open drain but no result came out from the discussions. We are thinking for the beautification of the town. If box culvert is done then the people can walk freely on the culvert and it will give a new dimension to the town,” said an official.
