Lok Sabha Question No. 4801 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-12-15
Subject: Dredging of Brahmaputra River
Ministry: WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANAGA REJUVENATION
Asked by: SIRAJUDDIN AJMAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES,

## RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4801 ANSWERED ON 15.12.2016

## DREDGING OF BRAHMAPUTRA RIVER

## 4801. SHRI SIRAJUDDIN AJMAL

Will the Minister of WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION  be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government proposes to dredge the channels of Brahmaputra river in Assam including those located in lower portion; and

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the funds allocated for the purpose, channel-wise?

## ANSWER

THE        MINISTER    OF     STATE FOR  WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA  REJUVENATION (Dr. SANJEEV KUMAR  BALYAN)

(a)      &      (b)      Flood      management    including    silt      management    being      a    State      Subject,      the responsibility  of   planning,    funding,    executing   and   operating   the   flood    management scheme primarily  rests   with   the   State   Govt.   concerned.  The  assistance   rendered   by Central  Government is technical, catalytic  and  advisory in nature.

MoWR   vide   its   letter   dated   8.10.2001  had   set   up  a  multi-disciplinary  Committee (Mittal Committee)  to  identify    cause    and  extent    of  siltation    in  rivers,    suggest    measures  to  minimize siltation,      examine  as    to    whether      desilting is    a    technically      feasible      means      to  minimize magnitude  of  floods   in   rivers,   suggest   appropriate  technology/   methods   of desilting  of  rivers, propose   a  realistic  operational  programme  in  a  time-bound  manner and  other  related aspects.   The committee  inter-alia    concluded  that  desilting  in  general  is  not  feasible  technically,  due  to  several reasons    like  non-sustainability,  non-availability  of  vast  land  required    for  the  disposal    of  dredged material,    etc.  This  cannot    be  viewed  in  isolation  of  other  approaches  to  manage  floods.  Desilting  of rivers  in  vulnerable  reaches may  be  suggested  based  on  model  studies  if  it  is  found  techno-economically viable.  For navigation  purpose,  the river reaches  in the waterways  path may be dredged  to have minimum depth of water.

Inland  Waterways  Authority  of  India  (IWAI)  undertakes  dredging  as  per  requirement to  maintain a  fairway  of  45  m  width  with  least  assured  depth  (LAD)  of  2.5  m  /2.0  m/1.5  m  at    different      stretches between   Dhubri   and   Sadiya   on   river   Brahmaputra   (National Waterway-2).  The  fund  allocation  for fairway development  of National Waterway-2  for the Financial  Year 2016-17 is Rs. 11.80 crore.

Water  Resources    Department,   Government  of  Assam  has  explored  the  possibilities  of  dredging of river  Brahmaputra  to solve the problem  of siltation and to control  the active erosion.  In order  to address this  issue,  the  Water  Resources  Department  organized  a  workshop    and    held    a    Technical    Session "Fluvial    Morphology    of    river    Brahmaputra,  sediment    management    with  possibility    of  dredging  by adopting  modern   technology"   As per  decision   of  the  workshop   an  interdisciplinary   expert    group  has b e e n   constituted  to prepare  an action plan. The Dredging  Corporation of India (DCI) has already taken up preliminary  surveys  at selected  reaches,  for the purpose.