DHEMAJI, Oct 31: The bamboo bridge constructed over national highway at Samarajan point, though provided temporary relief to the hardship of the people, but the unlimited fare charged by the owners of the bridge made it impossible for the people to cross it. The role of district administration as a mute spectator only coupled the pain of the commuters.

The breach centred on the NH-52 at Samarajan six miles away from here in the last floods made the people of Dhemaji district in particular and three districts of Arunachal Pradesh in general suffer a lot. The people had to undergo severe hardship during the flood season. One had to walk over about a distance of 3 km to get conveyance. The boatmen charged whatever they wished. The entire journey from Panitola to Kumatia was very hazardous. At that time too, the district administration could not help the people by requisitioning sufficient numbers of boats. Even after the flood waters have receded, the main breach is still under sufficiently high water. The villagers with their own contributions constructed a bamboo bridge. The irate villages then monopolized the business for their benefit and started charging Rs 50 to Rs 500 from the vehicle owners. This amount valid from person to person. It was seen that in case of Arunachal people, obviously they charge more. Now light vehicles like Maruti cars, Gypsy vans, Jeeps, Ambassadors, etc, can pass through the bridge. The villagers thereby also proved that, the building of bridge was not an impossible task for the district administration, only if it desired to do so.

JORHAT, Oct 30: Though the fury of floods lashing Majuli has abated with the change of season, inconvenience of a different kind seems to have cropped up for the haggard river islanders this time round. For, any Majulian willing to visit Jorhat city today has to expend one to one-and-a-half hours more navigating the waves of the Brahmaputra. Earlier though, a trip from Kamalabari ghat to Neamati was undertaken in just above one hour, whereas the same journey entails 2 to 2 ½ hours today. This is so as a number of sand bars have appeared in the midst of the mighty red river, thus compelling ferries doing the rounds from Kamalabari ghat to Neamati to take a time-consuming detour to transport passengers to and from the river island. Compounding the problem even further is the fact that water level of Brahmaputra in the particular stretch under consideration has receded to a point where plying ferries through the shallow waters today has proved to be a challenge in itself, as the route is virtually littered with sand bars every few yards, thus rendering navigation difficult and tune-consuming at the same time. Appearance of a 8-9 km long sand bar near the Kamalabari ghat in Majuli has presently compelled the Inland Water Transport Corporation (IWTC) ferries to navigate upstream towards the east and reach Sumoimari near Dakhinpaat before again taking a U-turn towards Nemati in Jorhat. Additionally, all riverine traffic has to religiously stick to the deepest parts of the 'male' river to avoid scraping of the lower portion of the ferry hull with sand in the constantly shallowing river-bed. This effort in itself takes up a tremendous amount of time as the vessels ply in a zig-zag pattern just to avoid mishaps. The regular passengers' plight is accentuated manifold when occasional mechanical trouble of the ferries and flouting of set norms by a section of the lessees are taken into consideration. In other words, a trip to Jorhat or Neamati for that matter, has lately come to be associated with a pain in the neck!

According to official sources at Majuli, plying of ferries from Sumoimari instead of Kamalabari ghat to Neamati would have been less time-consuming and tortuous. But as vehicular traffic between Bongaon and Kamalabari has been restricted at Lahotichiga due to erosion of the only motorable road by the last wave of floods, hence the proposition had to be shelved altogether. Motorised two-wheelers too have presently become inoperable in vast tracts of the river island due to deplorable condition of the once-present roads!

SILCHAR, Oct 29: Heavy erosion on both sides of the river Barak has caused havoc in an extensive area of Cachar and Hailakandi district. Several thousand of people have lost their houses and cultivable land. Due to the devastating increasing erosions, some mandirs, masjids, electricity towers, sixty shops and many houses have submerged in the swirting waters of the river Barak.

Even the people from the educational institutions and Government projects have started shifting to safer places from the river banks. The erosion in Barak is not a new thing, but the river has created an unprecedented devastation in hundreds of villages situated on the banks recently.

GUWAHATI, Oct 29: The ruling Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has stressed the need for launching a mass awareness campaign to put pressure on the Central Government to implement the multipurpose projects for controlling floods by the year 2005.

The AGP recently formed a seven-member committee to prepare a report on the steps needed to be taken for strengthening the party and the report of the committee dwelt at length on the problem of floods.

The report pointed out that over the years, despite demands from different political parties and organisations, the Central Government failed to take necessary steps for a permanent solution to the problem of floods and erosion in the State. Though two expert committees, headed by LC Jain and SP Shukla in their reports, suggested several short-term and long-term measures needed to be taken for the solution of the problem, till date the suggestions have not been implemented.

Every year, floods create havoc in both the Brahmaputra Valley and the Barak Valley, besides posing a major hurdle in the economic development of the State, the report added. It also pointed out that according to a study, the damages caused by floods during the period 1953 - 1995 were estimated to the tune of Rs 4400 crore, that is, Rs 664 per year.

The report said that the State can be saved from the fury of floods by implementing the master plan prepared by the Brahmaputra Board. If the water resources available in Assam are properly utilised, it would give a big boost to the economy of not only Assam but also of the whole country, the report added.

The report pointed out that according to the master plan prepared by the Brahmaputra Board, at least 50,000 MW of power can be produced by utilising the water resources of the Brahmaptura and its tributaries. As per the master plan, an amount of Rs 1848 crore would be required for implementing the short-term plans, while Rs 50,000 crore would be required for the long-term plans.

The AGP demanded that the central Government recognise floods and erosion in Assam as a national problem and that the North-Eastern Council (NEC) be entrusted with the job of taking measures for controlling floods and erosion. It may be mentioned here that different other organisations of the State including the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) have also been demanding that floods be treated as a national problem.

The AGP committee also suggested that the State Government should form at least five task forces to help the administration in flood relief operations as well as in flood damage repairs. In the process, the unemployment problem will also be eased out to a great extent, the report added.

DHEMAJI, Oct 26: Road communication between Dhemaji district and rest of the country through NH No.52 has remained disrupted since July last, after the Jiadhal river floods washed away a stretch of about 2km of the road. The NH department was very busy through the months of July, August and September. The broken stretch of the road was filled up -- with sands brought by trucks, but almost everyday the heavy rains and river currents washed away the filled-up portions. Besides, the department constructed a bamboo bridge over the main stream of the river and bought up two such bridges constructed by private parties. But these bridges were washed away immediately after completion. As a result the NH department had to suffer losses of lakhs of rupees. The conscious people realise that it is futile to fillup the road with sands during rainy season.

Now the rainy season is over and since the beginning of October there has been very little rainfall in Dhemaji district. A private party has constructed a bamboo bridge over the Jiadhal river and has been during brisk business by earning several lakhs of rupees since the last part of September. The bamboo bridge is very useful to the passengers but costly. A pedestrian has to pay Rs 5 once he passes through it and small four-wheelers have to pay Rs 100.

NALBARI, Oct 21: The fate of the proposed Rs 5.62 crore Pagladia dam project to be set up at Thalkuchi village in Nalbari district once again hangs in balance as the Pagladia Prakalpa Pratirodh Sangram Samiti totally rejected it when the Central Water Resources Development Minister Smt Bijoya Chakravarty visited the Tamulpur area today to take the stock of the situation. The Central Minister was accompanied, among others by the Education Minister Sri Thaneswar Boro, local MLA Sri Derhagra Musahari and the high-level officials of the Brahmaputra Board. On the occasion of the visit of Smt Chakravarty, a public meeting was held at Tamulpur Ras premises to create an awareness among the local people about the benefits of the project. While Smt Chakravarty was trying to convince the people describing its multi-purpose benefits in the meeting, the members of the Samiti among the audience raised a hue and cry rejecting the proposed construction of the project. However, Smt Chakravarty waxed confidence that the people will realise its benefits shortly when the Brahmaputra Board starts its rehabilitation programme for the to be affected families of the locality.

Meanwhile, the Nalbari district administration has sent a proposal of 15000 bighas of land to the Revenue Department for its final approval to allow the board to start the rehabilitation programme for the affected families. Of this proposal, the administration has received approval of 420 bighas of land and 150 bighas have been taken possession by the Board.

MANGALDOI, Oct 20: The Darrang district branch of Indian Red Cross, in collaboration with the American Red Cross recently distributed bags containing untensils, blankets etc to one thousand beneficiaries of Sipajhar and Patherighat revenue circle. At a meeting organised by the Darrang branch of Indian Red Cross at Natya Mandir, Mangaldoi the chairman, Sri S K Lohia was present along with two members of American Red Cross, Mr James Macdonald and Jim Stephenson in their brief speeches said that they had come to India carrying the love and concern of the American people.

GUWAHATI, Oct 18: Even as the mighty Brahmaputra river shows tendency to change its course between Dholla in Tinsukia district and Dibrugarh, a number of prized tea estates in the tea heartland face threat of extinction due to continuous erosion by the channel of the river towards south of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

Not only tea gardens but also a large number of villages, the Army base at Dinjan, Mohanbari Airport and the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park are also staring at the similar fate. If immediate measures, however costly it may be, are not taken by the Government to check the river channel from devouring more area, tea industry in that area will become a part of history for Assam in near future.

The worst affected tea gardens include Digulturrung, Baghjan, Rungagora, Nalini, Dinjan, Balijan, Thanai, Oakland, Greenwood, Maijan etc. The Oakland division of Thanai tea estate had been wiped out due to erosion by Brahmaptura.

The damage caused by erosion to the property of these tea estates during the period from 1992 to 1999 has been calculated at around Rs 537 crore. Rungagora TE has lost 140 hectares of land including 100 hectares of tea plantation, two bungalows, staff quarters and a tea factory.

Thanai TE in Dibrugarh whose Oakland part was wiped out, has lost total 350 hectare of plantation, all executive bungalows, staff quarters and the garden hospital.

Maijan TE in Dibrugarh lost 161 hectares of tea crop, two executive bungalows and 38 staff quarters during the period because of unabated erosion by Brahmaputra. Besides large number of villages and vast tracts of paddy growing land in the area have been eaten up by the river.

The root cause of the problem lies in avulsion of Brahmaputra (Lohit and Debang) water into Dangeri and Dibru rivers through Ananta Nallah located near Dholla. These two rivers were only 40 to 50 feet wide with a maximum depth of 10 feet during monsoon. But savage force of devastating current of water from Brahmaputra into these stream has widened them to such an extent that today they have combined to become a channel of the Brahmaputra wrecking havoc in a vast area.

The problem of erosion have become more intensive since 1997. A WT message dated 7.2.97 sent by the then Deputy Commissioner of Tinsukia district to the Chief Engineer Flood Control, Assam on the erosion threat spoke volume of the gravity of the problem.

The Deputy Commissioner in the message mentioned that a joint survey of the area revealed that the prevailing tendency of the channel indicated that the Brahmaputra might take this channel as its main course in future if preventive measures were not taken in time. Over three years have elapsed since then, no action has been initiated to check avulsion of Brahmaputra water through Ananta Nallah even as unabated erosion continued.

Ananta Nallah was originally a man-made stream dug from the major channel of Brahmaputra at a distance of one kilometre from Dholla Dangeri river for the purpose of fishing and limited discharge of water to Saikhowa Reserve Forest.

However, as a result of devastating flood in Sumoni area in 1992 and due to breach of Sumoni embankment the nallah joined with Dholla Dangeri river and had become a major channel of Brahmaputra which is navigable even during winter season.

When the problem was noticed first during 1993-94 it would have cost estimated Rs 30-40 lakh to put up silting devices to stop avulsion of Brahmaputra water through Ananta Nallah. Now, it will cost over Rs 300 crore to prevent the area from erosion of Brahmaputra.

Sources in the tea industry informed that despite repeated appeal from them, the Government, Flood Control Department failed to act in time to prevent the problem from reaching alarming dimension as of today.

The companies took initiatives to engage experts to carry out investigation in order to evolve suitable measures for mitigating the problem. However, the dimension of problem is so vast that it is beyond the reach of the tea industry to tackle on its own.

The Chairman and members of Flood Control Committee of Indian Tea Association have been running from pillar to post to find out ways and means to tackle the menace of erosion and flood by approaching both the State and Central Governments. Memoranda have been submitted to several quarters including the Prime Minister, Union Water Resources Minister, State Chief Minister, Flood Control Minister seeking urgent steps to solve the problem. But the efforts of the tea industry has so far failed to evoke any response from both the State and Central Governments.

NALBARI, Oct 17: The poor farmers of Dakshin Nakheti and Dokoha villages under Barbhag revenue circle of Nalbari district who earn their livelihood from paddy cultivation now find no alternative except a begger-like existence, as the Baralia river breached its right side embankment at two places in these villages during the second wave of floods on August 3 last. As the floods transformed their fertile land into desert the poor farmers find no ways to maintain their families in a proper way.

Following the receding of flood waters, which damaged all sali crops and sali seedlings, the farmers again made a bid to raise their sali crops collecting seedlings from 20 to 30 kms distance spending Rs 10 for each eAkhi'. Unfortunately, their effort also went in a vain, as the recent floods through its breaches washed them away. The fate of more than two hundred farmer families of this localities in now hanging in a balance.

The flood water of the Baralia river is still flowing through their paddy fields. The sali season is over. The affected farmers have no alternative except working as daily wage earners.

During the puja festival, the poor people of these villages were busy collecting bamboo from house to house to repair their only dwelling houses, damaged in the floods. According to a report, more than hundreds of dwelling houses were washed away by the floods in these villages alone.

When this correspondent recently visited the affected villages, he found that several damaged houses were still lying unrepaired as most of the villagers are not in a position to repair it. They are still living on the embankment in miserable condition.

HAILAKANDI, Oct 14: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has demanded the construction of various bunds in the flood-affected areas of Hailakandi district. Sri Jawahralal Dutta, one of the secretaries of APCC recently visited the flood-affected areas in the Matijuri, Samarikona, Nimaichandpur, Bandookmarra, etc. villages. Later, Sri Dutta met the Deputy Commissioner of Hailakandi and submitted a memorandum. Sri Dutta, in his memorandum, alleged that due to the non-construction of Ankaikhal bund and Boroitalli sluice gate, a vast area of Hailakandi district has been affected by the recent flood, and said that the flood had caused extensive damage to the paddy crops and houses of the rural people He demanded the construction of bunds at Ankaikhal, Tasla, Nimaichandpur, Boroitalli, Matijuri, Bandookmarra, Ratanpurghat, etc. places. He also demanded to provide relief and medical help to the flood-affected people.

KAMALABARI, Oct 3: It is a matter of grave concern that Majuli, the biggest river island in the world, is now endangered. The Brahmaputra is proving to be the biggest obstacle to its existence. About one-tenth of the river island has already been washed away by the river. Though some boulders have been placed to contain the erosion, the effort has proved to be futile. A large part of the boulders stored at Neamatighat have already been swallowed by the river. Contractors hesitate to take up the job of transporting boulders to this place as this does not reap enough profits for them. The grant of Rs 75 crore by the National Front government to contain the erosion has been cancelled by the NDA government. The assurance of a Central grant of Rs 250 crore by Central State Minister, Bijaya Chakrabarty, is proving to be a fluke, said president of the Majuli Island Protection and Development Council (MIPDC), MP, Dr Arun Kumar Sharma at a public meeting held at Majuli College on September 15 last. He added that the chances of getting the island declared a World Heritage site by the UNESCO were dim due to the absence of a powerful lobby at the international level. Dr Sharma requested the people to pay homage to the late Sanjay Ghosh for his pioneering work in creating international awareness and concern for the fate of Majuli. The MIPDC has olso received Rs 15 lakh from the Central government for the purpose of constructing three museums at the Satras of Auniati, Dakhinpat and Natun Kamalabari.