Tackling flood with outdated structures

Embankments, as a rule, have an effective life span of only 25 years, and since most of the embankments were constructed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, what the state Government has been doing is only carrying out repairs and reinforcements to these structures. As floods continue to play havoc against such a backdrop, it has also given birth to a vicious cycle of corrupt politicians, officers and contractors who have been accused of swindling huge sums of money in the name of repair and damage control.

A close look at the list placed in the Assembly by Narah revealed that 30 out of 38 embankments in the Dibrugarh water resource division have already crossed their expiry dates, while in the worst-affected Majuli island, eight out of 12 such structures have surpassed their period of effectiveness. No doubt, Majuli — the island that is fighting for a place in the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list — has been shrinking, with its area coming down from 1,250 sq km to 450 sq km over a period of about 50 years.

In Dhemaji, yet another badly affected district where three out of every five families have slipped down below poverty line due to flood-induced disasters, 14 out of 22 embankments are outdated. Similarly, in the East Guwahati division, all the 18 embankments are in the over-aged category, while the figure is 12 out of 15 in the West Guwahati division.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had recently admitted that Assam was “managing” floods with an ad hoc approach by merely carrying out repair works. Flood control master plans prepared by the Brahmaputra Board, a central agency, are gathering dust with the Centre being accused of focussing only on generation of hydel power by constructing mega dams in Arunachal Pradesh (from where the Brahmaputra and most of its major tributaries flow down), with little or no importance to flood moderation or mitigation of flood-induced disasters.

A recent World Bank report, Development & Growth in Northeast India: The Natural resource, Water and Environment Nexus, has pointed out that though the country had invested huge sums of money to control floods in the post-independence period, “disastrous flooding with loss of life and property continues to affect large segments of population, impoverish many, and discourage investments that could generate employment and economic growth.” The same report has also pointed out that inadequate maintenance of embankments, and excessive encroachment into the vulnerable areas of the flood-plains have made the situation from bad to worse.

Human interference on the Brahmaputra’s natural channel of flow has increased manifold since 1971, with hordes of migrants (and infiltrators) from Bangladesh encroaching upon the river. Successive state governments, instead of discouraging such tendencies and evicting the encroachers, have adopted a dangerous policy of granting land settlement rights to these people with vote-bank politics remaining the prime motivator.

Thus, even as funds keep flowing under various heads for flood management, the overall situation only causes the Brahmaputra to behave uncontrollably, resulting in river-bank erosion and faster damage to the already ageing flood-control structures.