[ Prafulla Kaman ]
PASIGHAT, 29 Nov: The Brahmaputra Board (BB) – a technical department under the union Jal Shakti ministry – is all set to implement two anti-erosion projects worth Rs 50 crore at the Remi river in East Siang district.
BB Vice Chairman Sher Singh, accompanied by the board’s Itanagar Regional Office Head Gamno Kamki and EE Migo Basar on Tuesday visited the proposed project sites along the Remi river between Mirem and Oyan villages in Ruksin circle of East Siang district.
The team of engineers visited Mirem, Remi and Oyan portions along the Remi river and took stock of the river’s course and its vulnerability.
The proposed project is aimed at protecting fertile croplands and public properties from flood and soil erosion caused by the Remi river. It covers several vulnerable portions at Mirem, Miglung, Remi and Yeken Piigo (Oyan) along the river.
Speaking to this correspondent after the site visit, Singh said that the project is at an advanced stage of the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) approval.
“The project may be approved soon after the CWC’s meeting to be held early next month. Experts from the CWC have designed the anti-erosion project, which is composed of both technical and traditional methods,” he said.
Informing about the findings during the field visit, the BB vice chairman said that he has “realised the flood and erosion problems caused by rivers.”
He added that “it is not possible to realise the problems caused by rivers or any other natural disaster sitting in the office and watching the maps.”
In January last year, a team of BB engineers had conducted a technical survey on the Remi riverbed, following identified strategic locations at Sibe-Raglong (Mirem), the Miglung bridge point, the trijunction of the Marbang, Minggo and Remi rivers near the Remi RCC bridge, and Yeken-Piigo (Oyan), within a 14-km stretch.
The engineers collected all profiles of the river and gathered geological information of the riverbed.
The Remi river causes flooding on both sides of its banks every year during monsoon. It has already swallowed several acres of cropland and horticulture gardens in Pasighat West area.
The river meets the Siang river at Oiramghat portion in downstream Assam.
The BB vice chairman was assisted by Ruksin ADC Tajing Jonnom, Bilat CO TD Bapu, Oyan ZPM Bimol Lego and other public leaders.
The ZPM and other leaders urged the BB engineers to expedite the approval and sanctioning processes of the ambitious project.
