Severe erosion at Hatighuli area near Dholla in Tinsukia district
DOOMDOOMA: Severe erosion is taking place at Hatighuli area near Dholla in Tinsukia district by the Dibang river- a important tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra. According to report, Hatighuli has been hit by heavy flooding of the Dibang and Brahmaputra rivers. Consequently, sand-filled geobags and megabags used for protective measures were washed away. It was mainly due to lack of proper maintenance by the department, alleged Binod Kedia, president of Dibrugarh -Tinsukia Flood and Erosion Resistance Struggle Forum(DTFERSF).
Kedia said that on January 5, last year he apprised the visiting Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma about the problem and suggested protecting 5 km of the river bank on the erosion site with geobags and digging of the old stream of the river in order to divert the flow of the river from that of its changed course. Later, Assam Water Resources Minister Piyush Hazarika visited the area and entrusted the responsibility to the Water Resources department to take erosion protective measures.
But the department was slow in execution of the work and regrettably, it left the site after digging a drain of only 20 meters in width, half meters in depth and about half a kilometer in length and that too not along the old course of the river but along the sandy highland of its bank. As is obvious, it is quite insufficient to hold the huge volume of water flowing along a big river like Dibang. It is, therefore, the inaction of the department responsible for the current spate of erosion, alleged the forum and demanded of the Government to take immediate protective measures.
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