A River Runs Wild

‘‘Most of the embankments have exhausted their life-spans,’’ admits Captain P K Das, secretary of the state flood control department. ‘‘But there is no money to repair them. The Finance Commission estimated last year that the state needed Rs 70 crore just to maintain flood control structures, but we received only Rs 3.50 crore.”

Embankments are usually built to last 25-30 years. The Brahmaputra, moreover, has changed course and character several times over the past 30 years, putting extra-ordinary pressure on them.

‘‘It is a major ecological problem,’’ says Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, highlighting the massive deforestation in the Brahmaputra’s catchment area. ‘‘This is seriously affecting our agriculture. The gross loss of revenue and assets is worth several thousand crores of rupees.’’

Even as the state predictably blames the Centre, the Brahmaputra Board, an autonomous statutory body, has prepared three master plans — one for the main stem of the Brahmaputra, one for the Barak river system and the third for the important tributaries of the Brahmaputra and eight rivers of Tripura — but none has been implemented, despite the approval of the Union Ministry of Water Resources.

‘‘The Board is not responsible for the implementation of the master plans,’’ says minister of state for water resources Bijoya Chakravarty, who looks after the Board.

Chakravarty, also the BJP MP from Guwahati, says that the state government is to be blamed for not getting funds from the Centre. ‘‘The state does not present its case strongly enough. Moreover, it does not submit utilisation certificates for funds already released,’’ she says. ‘‘Besides, it’s not true that the Centre has been holding back funds. The Centre has given Rs 400 crore to Assam for flood control in 1974-99. Since I took over in 1999, the state has received another Rs 50 crore, mostly for new projects.’’

Even as the debates — and the rains — rage, Assam’s common people are realising that salvation will come only with the skies closing up.