Assam facing floods with 76 'most vulnerable' embankments

14 embankments already breached this year in early deluge

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, June 18: As many as 76 embankments in the State have been identified as 'most vulnerable', according to the recent study by the State Water Resources department.

The Silchar Water Resources division has the most number of vulnerable embankments  - 16. Lakhimpur has 8 such vulnerable embankments, Dhemaji 7, Dhubri 4, Dibrugarh 11, gaon 3, Sivasagar 2, Morigaon 8, Barpeta 7, Guwahati (west) 9 and one in Palashbari Gumi Project.

Among the vulnerable embankments are the Dibrugarh Town Protection drain, Saikhowa Protection bund, harkatia town protection work at Jagun gaon, Buridehing embankment of Tengakhat and the embankments along Subansiri and Puthimari rivers.

This year, 14 embankments have already been breached - 10 in lbari district, three in Sonitpur and one in Karimganj.

There are allegations that a number of proposals for repairing embankments have been kept pending by the Assam State Disaster Magement Authority (ASDMA).

The State Water Resources department had sent 104 proposals relating to embankment repair to the ASDMA in 2012-13. The agency cleared only 73 of them. The following year, 85 proposals were sent, of which only 29 were sanctioned. Similarly, last year, only 54 of the 186 proposals were cleared.

The State Assembly had in the past witnessed arguments over the delay in sanctioning of repair works, but that has not changed the state of affairs.