Gogoi urges Govt to form Brahmaputra Valley Authority

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has urged Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti to expedite the constitution of the Brahmaputra River Valley Authority and delegate more powers to it for tackling the twin problems of flood and erosion in the state.

“The functioning of the Brahmaputra Board is not at all satisfactory and the Centre must accord priority to the setting up of Brahmaputra River Valley Authority which has been a long standing demand of the state,” the Chief Minister said during a meeting with the River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister last night.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the problem of erosion is more serious than flood and the state’s economy that hinges on agriculture would be adversely affected if erosion continues to erode the land mass permanently.

A holistic approach has to be adopted for tackling flood and more importantly the serious problem of erosion, the Chief Minister said, according to a release issued here on Wednesday.

Gogoi urged Bharti to sanction the flood management schemes submitted by the state government and to make it 90:10 funding.

He also urged her to clear the Rs 1,500 crore World Bank funded Assam Flood and Erosion Management Modernisation Project. Gogoi asked Bharti for inclusion of erosion as natural calamity under the National Disaster Response fund. The Centre must view erosion as a serious problem and bring it under the ambit of National Disaster Response Fund to provide the much-needed relief, he added. The Water Resources Minister assured the Chief Minister that she would look into the problems in right earnest and take up necessary steps accordingly.