Why has Dibrugarh district administration failed to clear encroachment in front of DTP drain?
DIBRUGARH: Dibrugarh has been battling with severe waterlogging and flash flood problems for the past several decades. After a spell of heavy rains, the city comes under water.
After continuous rainfall for the last three days, the main streets of Dibrugarh were waterlogged, and there is no proper mechanism to flush out the rainwater.
The Dibrugarh Town Protection (DTP) Drain, a crucial storm-water drainage system spanning 9.5 km, cannot flush out rainwater from the town because of illegal encroachment and dumping of garbage and plastic in the drain that remains choked.
The DTP drain, which originates from Seujpur (zero point), passes through densely populated areas in the heart of Dibrugarh town before reaching the Sessa river, covering a total distance of 9.5 km. A significant portion of the drain, about 5.56 km, falls within Dibrugarh town, while the remaining 3.85 km is located on the outskirts.
“The major portion of the drain was illegally encroached upon, and buildings were constructed that obstruct the proper functioning of the drain. The drain has become narrow due to illegal construction, and mandirs have also been constructed over the drain. The Dibrugarh administration, after knowing everything, is doing nothing against the illegal encroachers who have constructed their building by encroaching upon the drain,” alleged an official of the Water Resource Department.
He said a staggering 1612.5 square feet of the drain have been encroached upon by various entities, including business establishments, individual households, and religious and educational institutions.
“We could not properly clean the drain due to the illegal encroachment, and due to that, the people of Dibrugarh suffered during the monsoon. The DTP drain has also become a dumping ground. Plastic and garbage were dumped in the drain, which clogged the smooth functioning of the drain water,” he said.
The H.S. Road, Mancotta Road, AT Road, and Thana Chariali remained under water for the past seven days. The people are having a harrowing time because the whole area was waterlogged. In 2015, due to a massive artificial flood, Dibrugarh town came under water for several days. In 2020, a similar situation happened, and the people remained under water for several days.
This year too, the residents of Dibrugarh faced a similar situation, and the town has been under water for several days. But the Dibrugarh district administration has no answer or any permanent solution to solve the decade old problem.
“A master plan has been needed to solve the perennial problem. The Dibrugarh Municipal Board (DMB) was recently upgraded to Dibrugarh Municipal Corporation, but nothing has changed so far; only a blame game is going on. The Water Resources Department has been in charge of cleaning the DTP drain, but in 2012 they gave the responsibility to the Dibrugarh Municipal Board, but they failed to clean the drain in a proper scientific manner. Every year, we have to face the waterlogging problem because of the laid back attitude of the concerned department,” alleged a senior citizen.
He said, “In 2015, when Dibrugarh town faced severe waterlogging, the local MLA Prasanta Phukan assured the citizens that very soon steps would be taken to solve the waterlogging problem, but time flies and nothing has happened till date. The problem remained the same.”.
“We need a proper scientific mechanism to solve the waterlogging problem in the town. The Dibrugarh administration should install CCTV cameras in various locations to check garbage throwing in the drain. Now that time has come to take serious action against the people who dump garbage and plastics in the drain, they would be held responsible, and they should be booked under law,” said Raju Sharma, a senior citizen.
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