Significant drop in water level of Brahmaputra causes concern

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Drastic reduction in the water level of the Brahmaputra in the past few days has affected navigation of boats and vessels, especially cargo vessels. This has become a matter of serious concern. The Directorate of Inland Water Transport, Assam has sought help from the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to provide dredgers for dredging the river.

The Directorate of Inland Water Transport, Assam has observed a significant drop in the water level of the Brahmaputra in the past 15 days. The water level along the banks of the river has reduced to such an extent that vessels are finding it difficult to reach the ghats. The Directorate of Inland Water Transport, Assam, has informed the Central Water Commission about this and sought a study to find out the reason for the sudden drop in the water level of the Brahmaputra.

A few days back, two vessels from Bangladesh had got stranded in the river as the water level dropped. Two dredgers were used to pull out the vessels. IWAI had earlier given Assam two dredgers. One of them is in Dhubri due to some technical problems while the other is being brought back to Guwahati but it will take another week for it to reach here. IWT authorities have requested the IWAI to provide two more dredgers so that the river can be dredged to make the route navigable.

In Guwahati, the river has dried up so much that now sandbars have extended to 1 km-1.5 km from the river bank. Sandbars have formed in many other areas as the river has almost dried up along the banks. Vessels and boats are facing problems in reaching the ghats as they need a minimum water depth of two metres to reach the ghats. As a result, the ghats have been changed temporarily and this has led to additional costs.

In 2019, an agreement was signed to use the National Waterways II for the movement of boulders between Bangladesh and Bhutan. Boulders are brought from Bhutan's Phuntsholing to Dhubri by road. From Dhubri, the boulders are taken through waterways to Bangladesh. At a time when the government has been laying a thrust on developing the National Waterways II for better trade and transport, the sudden reduction in the water level of the Brahmaputra has left the IWT authorities looking for answers. The director of Inland Water Transport, Assam, Sarangpani Sarma said, "We are monitoring the water level. The level has been stable in the last two days but overall, the water level has reduced drastically."

He said that it was too early to state the reason for the drop in water level but perhaps the construction of huge dams in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra in China could have led to this. "If the water level of the Brahmaputra continues to decrease, there will be problems in the navigation of vessels and boats in future," he added.

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