Questions on Matmara:Whose interests is the government serving?

Pix:AFP.Matmara during last year monsoon

GUWAHATI:The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today warned the State Government of a vigorous agitation in case the Government fails to keep its words on protecting the Sissikalghar-Tekeliphuta dyke in the about one-and half-a-kilometre stretch of Matmara area expeditiously. The repeated failure of the dyke in that area since 1996, has eliminated a good number of villages and pauperised thousands of people. Several educational institutions have also been washed away or buried under sand by the Brahmaputra and a number of Government offices and a vast area of have been buried by the river under the sand it has deposited in the area.

The schools washed away by the Brahmaputra include Matmara LP School, R K Baligaon LP School, Janjhi LP School and Karshing Katang High School. Authorities of the All Assam Miri Higher Secondary School, which is the first Mising higher secondary school in the State, were compelled to shift their school to safer areas for the third time now due to the sand of the Brahmaputra making it impossible for them to reclaim the school.

Stating all these, AASU organising secretary Jagadish Dutta, who is also the general secretary of the Association of Past and Present Office-Bearers of Cotton College Union Society, said that the State Government had failed to discharge its duties to rehabilitate and compensate the Matmara flood victims.The failure of the dyke in Matmara area has also posed serious threat to the famous river island Majuli, Dutta said and informed that preparations were on to take the matter to the court also.Floods have made life miserable for almost the entire population of the Dhakuwakhana sub-division. The 38-km long Dhakuwakhana-Gogamukh Road, which is the only road connecting Dhakuwakhana with Gogamukh, is now in such a wretched condition that it takes over two hours to travel to Dhakuwakhana from Gogamikh or vice versa, he alleged.

Though the Government engaged Geo-textile Fabrics, an Australian company to implement a geo-textile project for the protection of the dyke in Matmara area, the implementation of the scheme is yet to start. The deadline fixed for completing the scheme was fixed in March, 2009, said Dutta.The Guwahati-based students of the area have been meeting the Chief Minister with the prayer to protect the Sissi-Tekeliphuta Dyke in Matmara area, since 2001. The leading citizens of the area also met the Water Resources Department Minister Prithivi Majhi on several occasion.But the Government is yet to take concrete steps to save the people of the Matmara area from the vagaries of the Brahmaputra, he said.

Giving an example of the functioning of the Water Resources Department, he alleged that the Department had told him in reply to his queries that an amount of Rs 2 crore was spent on erecting a bullhead for the protection of Matmara area, including Dhakuwakhana town (Phase-I) in February 2006. A similar amount was spent on another bullhead to protect the area with a similar structure in the same month of the same year. Dutta had applied for the answers in accordance with the provisions of the Right to Information Act.But, he said, the fact remained that there was no bullhead constructed to protect the area from the floods of the Brahmaputra.

Courtesy:The Assam Tribune

TMPK protests in Guwahati against mega dams

Photo:Asamiya Pratidin

GUWAHATI, Jan 5 – Demanding immediate intervention of the Assam Government in the proposed mega dams in Arunachal Pradesh, three leading Mising organisations,Takam Mising Porin Kébang( TMPK), Mising Mimag Kébang(MMK) and Takam Mising Mimé Kébang(TMMK) have said that faulty planning and corruption had been responsible for the perennial problems of flood and erosion in the State. Hundreds of members of the organisations today staged a demonstration at Dispur Last Gate, highlighting their grievances and calling for a permanent solution to the problems. “Floods used to be a boon for the farmers in the past but faulty planning, departmental inefficiency and corruption have combined to turn it into a curse. Deforestation in the neighbouring hilly States, large-scale extraction of boulders from riverbeds, and construction of big hydro-electric projects have compounded the problem manifold with the government authorities content to look the other way,” the TMPK said in a statement. Pointing out that release of water from the Ranganadi project caused unprecedented floods in Lakhimpur on June 14, 2008, the TMPK said that the proposed 160-odd mega dams in Arunachal Pradesh would spell doom for Assam and “we will continue to fight such irrational projects in the name of development.” Opposing the Government’s practice of constructing embankments without putting in place effective anti-erosion measures, the TMPK said that all-out efforts should be directed towards saving Matmara, as without protecting Matmara it would be impossible to protect Majuli. The TMPK also alleged that failure of the Finance Department to release funds on time was adversely affecting construction of critical embankments. Other demands of the organizations included land survey on Mising-inhabited areas for granting of land patta to the Misings, adequate relief and rehabilitation measures for the flood-affected people; review of “faulty” construction process of the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge; and putting a stop to the practice of “whimsical” land requisition under the pretext of facilitating developmental project. The organisations warned that unless the Government took serious note of its grievances and initiated corrective measures, they would be compelled to launch an aggressive agitation. Courtesy:The Assam Tribune,06-01-2009,Please refer http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jan0609/at09