OIL engineer proposes a flood mitigation plan

GUWAHATI: An OIL pipeline engineer, Ramen Kumar Deka, has come out with a multi-purpose flood mitigation proposal which, according to him, will lessen floods in Assam, besides enabling power generation and creating irrigation facilities.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, engineer Deka said, "The Brahmaputra carries around 40 per cent of its water from the Manas, Ai and the Beki rivers. If the flow of these three rivers can be restricted in Bhutan with a dam and canalize the flow to the Sankoch river, the quantum of water of the Brahmaputra will be lessened by 40 per cent. This will help the waters of the mighty river in upper Assam to flow down at a greater pace and go the Bay of Bengal via the Padma river in Bangladesh. This will help solve the problem of floods, erosion, breach of embankments etc to a large extent. Districts like Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta and Chirang will get a respite from floods if this proposal is materialized.

"The Manas and the Sankosh rivers can be connected with a canal to be named 'Mini Champo' with a length between 90 km and 100 km. A supper connectivity highway with a width of 240 km can also be the constructed along the canal. Since the canal will have a flow of water, power plants can also be constructed in it. The State government can take a cue from West Bengal that constructed a 200-km concrete dam along the Tista River in Siliguri.

"I've already submitted my proposal to the State government, State Water Resources department and all political parties for necessary action. I hope they will take the proposal into consideration."