GUWAHATI, Dec 11 ? At long last some respite seems to be in hand for the Deepar beel, a wetland of utmost importance for the city and a Ramsar site that has so far been only a victim of the wanton destruction perpetrated by humans on nature. The Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC) and the Kamrup district administration have embarked on an ambitious project aimed at injecting a fresh lease of life to the beel, where encroachment and heavy siltation have taken a heavy toll. Once spreading over a sprawling area of 41 sq km, the beel now covers just 4.14 sq km and its depth has been reduced to 2.25 metres from the earlier five metres.
The mega project, works on which have already started, involves digging up the beel bed and clearing the huge deposits of silt. Revealing this, Kamrup (Metropolitan) Deputy Commissioner AK Absar Hazarika today told newsmen that the drive was aimed at restoring at least an additional area of 24 sq km to the beel. ?Initially we want to work on the unencroached areas to avoid any legal tangles so as to speed up things. To begin with, we have selected a stretch of 0.3 km sq km and are constructing a 3-km-long and 12-metre-wide embankment from Dharapur to Tetelia to mark out the area and prevent possible encroachment,? he said.
The whole project will need around ten years for completion and crores of rupees. ?We have submitted a proposal of Rs 15 crore to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), New Delhi which has shown keen interest in executing the project,? Hazarika said. Once the area is desilted, dug up and regenerated, it will be connected to the core area of Deepar, ASTEC director AK Baruwa said. The clean-up operation will increase the water retention capacity of the beel by 7 lakh cubic metres. Envisaged as an integrated process, the project gives due thrust on the immense potential of Deepar as a tourist attraction as well. The beautiful landscape apart, the beel is home to thousands of migratory birds and is a proposed bird sanctuary. Last year over 11,000 Siberian cranes were witnessed here. ?We have chalked out a comprehensive eco-tourism plan with adequate weightage to ecological and environmental concerns. Activities related to tourism will be allowed outside the embankment without disturbing the core area,? the DC said.
On the question of clearing the beel of encroachments, Hazarika said in the long run besides eviction, the administration may have to go for land aquisition as there were many patta holders. ?But before displacing the people, the question of providing them with alternative livelihood arises and as of now, we are making arrangements for alternative fisheries outside the embankment,? Hazarika said. Restoring the old link of between the Deepar and the Silsako-Hahsora beel on the western side connected by the Bondajan is also part of the drive to rejuvenate the Deepar.
Meanwhile, a project implementation committee has been formed to oversee and expedite the works. ?At present six excavators are being used and we hope to rope in the services of a dredge utility craft soon,? Hazarika said. Rampant loss of green cover and earth-cutting on the hills surrounding the city have been the major cause of the accumulation of huge deposits of silt in the beel, as the loose soil ultimately find their way to the beel through numerous channels. Till the early seventies, the beel was in quite good shape but the last three decades have seen it lose much of its size and depth.