A CORRESPONDENT
LAKHIMPUR: Massive erosion by the Dikrong River has caused tremendous havoc in Madhupur area under Bihpuriya Revenue Circle of Lakhimpur district. The erosion has assumed devastating proportion in the Madhupur village, causing alarming threat to its embankment which has been constructed with a fund amounting to Rs 105 crore sanctioned under a Central government scheme.
The consecutive waves of flash flood caused by the river have put the riverine people in a miserable condition since 1998. Under such circumstances, both sides’ embankments of the river have been strengthened since 2014 by implementing the scheme through the Water Resources Department (WRD) of the State in order to protect the riverine people from the destructive flood caused by the river. But the matter of concern is that the Water Resources Department did not take up any kind of permanent measures to check the river erosion before the implementation of the embankment strengthening and construction scheme. As a consequence, the erosion of the river has created continuous havoc covering a vast area of 16 km from Harmoty to Dah-Ghoria under Bihpuriya RC. There is also alarming threat to the embankment at Madhupur.
On witnessing the devastation, the local people of the area said that if the embankment at Madhupur was engulfed by the river, the river might change its course there and it would flow through 10 villages within the area. “If it happens, over thousand families in these villages will be affected,” said one of the villagers. Regarding the issue, they expressed resentment against the alleged lackadaisical attitude on the part of the WRD towards controlling the problem for the greater interest of the riverine people.
Despite such massive devastation, the department concerned merely installed some bamboo porcupines in the river only almost four days ago. This initiative of the department has not satisfied the people of the area because such measures had been taken earlier and they did not turn out to be effective in checking devastation.
As per the information from the village people concerned, the erosion of the river has already engulfed the crop areas of as many as 50 families. In addition, the river has eroded the residential houses of several families too. They alleged that though several schemes had been implemented by investing lakhs of public fund year after year in the name of the mitigation of erosion, these schemes seemed to be a profitable business for a section of contractors and WRD officers. The villagers have demanded the State government and the WRD to take effective steps to mitigate the problem permanently by launching scientific erosion-prevention measures.