Debabrata Saikia alleged Brahmaputra dredging and express highway project

Senior Congress leader Debabrata Saikia Thursday alleged that the Brahmaputra dredging and express highway project announced with great fanfare by the BJP-led central and state governments, has now turned into a mirage.

Saikia said that he had posted a question Wednesday to Water Resources Minister Keshab Mahanta about the project, but his answer showed that the state government had no clue about its present status.

Apparently, only the Water and Power Consultancy Service Ltd (WAPCOS) and the relevant central government departments are aware of the present status of the project, Saikia alleged in a statement here.

"The Brahmaputra dredging and express highway project is another false promise made by the BJP to the people of Assam because the expert committee constituted by the state the government had pronounced the project as unfeasible for flood and erosion control in September nine last year," the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly said.

Among other things, the expert committee report had mentioned that the dredged channel will not sustain as it would get filled up again in no time.

Moreover, the ever-widening braided river course would erode the express highway, he said.

The state government needs to answer certain crucial questions regarding the project like why the project has not been officially scrapped despite adverse report of the expert the committee, which authority will accord techno-economic feasibility approval and to which authority the state Water Resources Department has submitted the Concept Paper which was prepared on the basis of its survey, the Congress leader said.

He also asked the state government to clarify whether the Draft Policy on Sediment Management prepared by the central government recommends dredging of the Brahmaputra.