To tame Brahmaputra, expert panel to take lessons from Chi

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, June 17: As part of initiatives to control Assam's flood and erosion problem, the State Government has decided to constitute an expert committee which will study Chi's Yellow River (Huwang He) Magement Strategies and replicate it in Assam for taming the Brahmaputra.

Chairing a high level review meeting of the Water Resources department in the conference room of his office on Friday, Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal said, "If the Yellow River which was once considered as 'sorrow of Chi' can be tamed, the Brahmaputra, which is the lifeline of the people of Assam, can also be used productively for exploiting the riparian rights of the people of the State".

He further said that the 'knowledge-driven' study in association with the World Bank would also prepare a roadmap for taming the Brahmaputra and its tributaries to control flood and erosion.

The study will encompass basin characteristics, river engineering, hydrology, channel morphology, floodplain evolution within its ambit and submit its report. The team will be constituted at a later date, Water Resources minister Keshab Mahanta said.

Sonowal said, "Water is source of all energies. The Brahmaputra has gifted Assam with abundance of water and the government will use this vast resource to propel State's development".

Emphasising on the need for a well-coordited document of the rivers in Assam, the Chief Minister  directed the department to do the needful for preparing a 'River Atlas' and asked it to use the expertise of the North Eastern Space Applications Centre for the task.

Considering the importance of rivers of Assam for its people, culture and economy, Sonowal exhorted the need for transforming the Assam Water Resources Magement Institute into an Institute of Excellence for undertaking extensive studies on rivers for their optimum gainful utilisation.

Sonowal also asked the department to work on an early flood warning system in line with the system put in place for Tsumi alerts.

Sonowal also reviewed several on-going schemes of the department, particularly erosion protection works being undertaken in Majuli.