Gobbling Brahmaputra poses threat to airport

With the extension of the runway of the airport, it is much closer to the river now. The intertiol airport is fraught with the risk of being eroded by the river if adequate and concrete erosion-preventive measures are not taken on time.

By our State Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 1: The voracious and gobbling Brahmapura is an ever-aggravating threat to the Lokapriya Gopith Bordoloi Intertiol Airport (LGBIA).

Every year floods ravage the South Bank of the Brahmaputra in Kamrup district, both in urban and rural areas, gobbling up vast portions of the bank. Since 1988, floods inundate one portion or the other of the intertiol airport. Last year also, many areas of the intertiol airport were inundated by floods, posing a serious threat to it.

The intertiol airport is not that far from the devastating river, and with the extension of the runway of the airport, it is much closer to the river now. The intertiol airport is fraught with the risk of being eroded by the river if adequate and concrete erosion-preventive measures are not taken on time.

Over the years, the state government is spending money in the me of erosion prevention in the area, but all those measures are short-term ones. They cannot solve the problem once and for all. The need of the hour is concrete and long-term measures that can put an end to the problem.

In 2007, a 300-metre bund had been constructed with a loan of Rs 315 crore from the BARD. However, the bund has been badly damaged by floods, and only concrete slabs are seen here and there, and some of them have gone under the ground. The situation is not safe for the intertiol airport, let alone thousands of people residing in the area and their cultivable lands.

Things have come to such a pass that there are many revenue villages in South Kamrup that have shifted many times. It so happens that when such a village is gobbled up by the voracious river, the village gets shifted to a new location but retains its me. The story of shifting villages in Assam is a very pathetic one. There are people on embankments for years and on.  

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