Birth centenary of Jogendra Nath Deka celebrated at Doomdooma

A CORRESPONDENT

DOOMDOOMA: The birth centenary of Karmayogi Jogendra Nath Deka who shot to fame because of his manifold contributions in the field of education, culture, literature, religious institutions and sports besides urban development was observed on Friday at Doomdooma College with a commemorative lecture on the topic 'The evolution and changes of rivers of Tinsukia District of Assam' delivered by DrJogendraNathSarmah, an eminent river specialist and former 'KeshabdeoMalabya Professor' of Dibrugarh University.

Saying that it was the Britishers like Captain Wales who first undertook a survey of the rivers of Assam in 1792, the subsequent revenue map of Assam of 1924 showed that there were as many as 16 rivers at a distance of one kilometer in Tinsukia district. The rivers of Tinsukia district are dissimilar to other rivers and in no other place there are so many rivers. These rivers are constantly changing their courses resulting in the change of the overall pattern of the river system. The notable example is Lohitriver, an important tributary of the river Brahmaputra, which instead of flowing west-ward started flowing south-ward and fell into the Brahmaputra after merging together with Dibru and Dangri rivers on its way.

In the past, there were deaths of many rivers and due to rise of plain lands the rivers changed their courses and caused erosion. Likewise due to formation horse shoe pattern on its course, river islands were created. Dibru-Saikhowa reserve Forest is actually a river island as it was created this way, he said. All these phenomena were taking place because the Euresia belt was unstable and Himalayan mountain was rising 6 mm and advancing 1 cm every year due to plate- tectonic movement below the crust of the earth. On current problem of flood and erosion, DrSarma said that there were no Geologist and Morphologist in our PWD department. So departmentally no steps were undertaken to study the geological aspects of the problem.

The centenary celebration began with garlanding of the statue of the late Deka who was the founder secretary of the College by Ramesh Goswami, president, Governing Body. Journalist DhirenDeka who was present on the occasion on behalf of the Late J. N. Deka's family thanked everyone present for their kind participation.

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