Assam to take a leaf out of China's flood control measures

Team to visit neigbouring country to study Yellow River or Huwang He management strategies

Ravaged by floods every year, Assam has decided to constitute an expert committee which will be tasked to go to China and study the Yellow River (Huwang He) management strategies. It would be then required to suggest ways to replicate the same in Assam to tame river Brahmaputra and use it as a deterrent for flood and erosion.  

As per government figures, Assam suffers an average loss of Rs 200 crore every year due to floods and nearly 40 per cent (31,500 sq km ) of the state’s land area are flood-prone. Also, Assam loses large swathes of land to river bank erosion and arresting the problem, let alone recovering those lost lands, has become a challenging task for the state. Assam has lost nearly 7 per cent of its agricultural land due to erosion since 1950.  

Chairing a high level review meeting of water resource department here today, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, “If the Yellow River which was once considered as ‘sorrow of China’ can be tamed, the Brahmaputra which is the line of the people Assam can also be used productively to serve the riparian rights of the people of the State”. He further said that the ‘knowledge-driven’ study in association with the World Bank would also prepare a roadmap for taming the Brahmaputra and its tributaries to control flood and erosion. 

The study will encompass basin characteristics, river engineering, hydrology, channel morphology, floodplain evolution within its ambit and submit its report. Sonowal said: “Water is source of all energies and the Brahmaputra which has gifted Assam with abundance of water, the government will use this vast resource to propel state’s development”.

Emphasising on the need of a well-coordinated document for the rivers in Assam, the chief minister  directed the department to do the needful for preparing a ‘River Atlas’ and asked the department to use the expertise of the North Eastern Space Applications Centre, in Meghalaya, for preparing the same. 
 

Considering the importance of rivers of Assam on its people, culture and economy, Sonowal exhorted on the need for transforming Assam Water Resources Management Institute (AWRMI) into an institute of excellence and undertake extensive studies towards rivers for their optimum gainful utilisation. Sonowal also asked the department to work on an early flood warning system in line with the system put in place for Tsunami early warning system. 
 

Sonowal also reviewed several on-going schemes of the department, particularly erosion protection works being undertaken in river island Majuli and other parts of the State.