GUWAHATI, June 18 ? Considering the burgeoning number of Guwahati population and the subsequent rise in the number of vehicular traffic in the city, the Brahmaputra Board, on a request from the Kamrup district administration, has prepared a project to reclaim a portion of the Brahmaputra bank between Sukreswar Ghat and Nilachal hillock. The project named River Training Measure for Strengthening the Embankment of Guwahati City is estimated to entail a cost of around Rs 35 crore. According to the Brahmaputra Board sources, if implemented, the project will help widening of the Mahatma Gandhi Road in that portion along the mighty river as this will help reclaiming a sizeable area from the river. Besides, this will also help beautification of the river bank in the area and to provide a strip of open space for the strollers.
However, the project is under examination of the Central Water Commission and the No Objection Certificate (NOC) required for the project from the State Government for its approval from the Union Government, is also awaited, the sources said. The main objection that has cropped up to the idea of the project, ? reclamation of a sizeable portion of land from the Brahmaputra, the fourth biggest river on the earth, with the help of expanded embankment, is that, if materialised, that will narrow the river bed in this portion and thus endanger the northern bank of the river during the high flood season, the sources said. But, the Brahmaputra Board, the sources said, after studying the old records, has found that the area sought to be reclaimed was once a part of the city?s river bank. The river bank area of the city was not a precariously narrow strap of land in the past as it appears to be these days, the sources said.
Significantly, the sources argued, though the river bank was wide on this side of the Brahmaputra, there was no adverse impact of it on the opposite bank in the bygone days. Meanwhile, when contacted, Kamrup district administration told The Assam Tribune here today, that though it had requested the Brahmaputra Board authorities to prepare the project, it was not going to get itself involved in its implementation. The implementation of the project will be entrusted with the Brahmaputra Board and the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), the district administration sources said, adding, however, the district administration is keenly pursuing the matter of issuing the NOC with the State Government.
The Brahmaputra Board, on its own, has also prepared a preliminary report on improvement of drainage system in the RG Baruah Road area, and, on a request from the Kamrup district authorities, a scheme for the development of the Borsola Beel. Besides, it has also prepared a project for the development of the Deepar Beel. In its project on the RG Baruah Road drainage system improvement, the Board has suggested diversion of a major portion of flood water of the Bahini rivulet towards Hatigaon-Sijubari and finally to the Deepar Beel via Basistha, taking the Dispur Super Market point as the point for diversion.
In the same project, it also suggested diversion of the storm water of the New Guwahati-Bamunimaidam area from the Industrial Estate point towards Bonda for the purpose of releasing it to the Brahmaputra. The project report has been submitted to the Kamrup district authorities, said the Board sources. The project on Borsola Beel has been prepared with an aim at cleaning the Beel of water hyacinth, removal of slurry, construction of the remaining portion of the boundary wall, construction of a sluice gate on the western side of the Beel to hold back the water, setting up a seweage treatment plant and finally at developing it into a natural lake with the recreational facilities like parks and boating facilities etc. The Deepar Beel project is aimed at cleaning and widening the Beel system and its area, removing the slurry and arresting the silt coming from the hill on its southern side, the Board sources said.