River dredging to debut with Barak

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to formally begin dredging exercise during mami Barak festival

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Nov 3: The much-anticipated dredging of the river systems of Assam is set to begin with the Barak river. Union Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvetion Minister Nitin Gadkari will formally begin the dredging work at Silchar during the three-day mami Barak festival that is scheduled to begin from 18th November.

Inland Water Authority of India (IWAI) will execute the work in association with the State Inland Water Transport department. The latter will provide the necessary logistic support to the operation.

Already three cutter suction dredgers (CSD) have reached the Barak valley. CSDs are equipped with a rotating cutter head, for cutting and fragmenting hard soils. The soil is sucked up by means of dredge pumps and discharged through floating pipeline and pipes on the river bank or to a deposit area. During dredging, the vessel remains secured by a spud lowered in the riverbed on the same location by means of winches and anchors.

Desigted as tiol Waterways 16, the Barak river will eventually link up the Barak Valley region of Assam and the neighbouring States of Mizoram and Manipur to Haldia Port in West Bengal via Bangladesh. The dredging is part of the exercise to improve the river vigation route by digging out silt, besides lowering the impact of floods.

State Government had told the Assam Legislative Assembly in September this year that dredging will be carried out both in the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers, besides their tributaries. He said this would be done to remove silt deposits, which will help increase the rivers’ water-bearing capacities, besides improving river vigation.

The Government also informed the House that the Government of India had also declared 14 tributaries as tiol waterways, besides the Brahmaputra and Barak.

Also, as reported in The Sentinel on 23rd September 2017, the World Bank had recently approved a $135-million loan to the Government of India for improving the river vigation in Assam. In fact, a massive overhaul of the State’s waterways is well under way.

On the other hand, four dredgers that had arrived in Guwahati earlier have not yet been involved in dredging the Brahmaputra as IWAI needs more study on the issue. The dredging of the Brahmaputra was scheduled to start in September-October. Sources said once the study is completed, the dredging will start.

Both the Central and Assam governments have emphasized on dredging the major rivers of the State with the twin objectives of harnessing the rivers’ vigation potential, besides solving the perennial problem of recurring floods.

Meanwhile, State Transport department Commissioner & Secretary Ashutosh Agnihotri told The Sentinel that the government is looking forward towards dredging the major rivers of the State to remove siltation and increase their water-bearing capacity, which will also improve the river vigation system.

“The government was planning to develop the Barak as an important waterway. Cargo movement will be made a lot cheaper and easier once the river vigation is improved. The government is looking forward towards early completion of the dredging of the river,” he explained.