Lok Sabha Question No. 3535 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-10
Subject: Land Loss due to Erosion
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Abdul Khaleque

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3535

## ANSWERED ON 10.08.2023

## LAND LOSS DUE TO EROSION

## 3535.   SHRI ABDUL KHALEQUE

## Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

be pleased to state whether the Government has made efforts to reclaim the land lost due to erosion in Assam and if so, the details thereof along with the details of reclaimed area?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

## ( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

Erosion,  movement  and  deposition  of  sediment  in  a  river  are  natural  regulating  functions  of  a  river. Rivers  tend  to  maintain  a  balance  between  the  silt  load  carried  &  silt  load  deposited,  maintaining  a  river regime. Soil erosion caused by heavy floods is a matter of concern as it leads to several associated problems like  changes  in  river  course,  causing  loss  of  land,  etc.  Flood  management  including  erosion  control  falls within  the  purview  of  the  States.  Flood  management  and  anti-erosion  schemes  are  formulated  and implemented by concerned State Governments as per their priority. The Union Government supplements the efforts  of  the  States  by  providing  technical  guidance  and  also  promotional  financial  assistance  for management of  floods  in  critical  areas.  The  Government  of  India  has  been  making  continuous  efforts  to assist the State Governments in effective flood management and erosion control. Morphological Studies by various IIT and NIIT have been carried out for major rivers including river Brahmaputra. These Studies play an important role in understanding the nature of rivers in a comprehensive manner and provide assessment of decadal bank-line movement, erosion & deposition in different reaches in respect of base year, derivation of reach-wise morphological indices and identification of critical reaches. These studies have been shared with concerned State Government and other stakeholders etc. for taking informed decision and future planning.

As per the morphological study of Brahmaputra River conducted by CWC through consultancy from IIT Guwahati, it has been estimated that in the Brahmaputra River a total erosion of 252.6 sq.km and deposition of 118.6 sq.km occurred between 2003-05 and 2008-11.

To strengthen the structural measures of flood management, Union Government had implemented Flood Management Programme (FMP) during XI & XII Plans for providing central assistance to States for works related  to flood  control,  anti-erosion,  drainage  development,  anti-sea  erosion,  etc.  which  subsequently continued as a component of "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme" (FMBAP) for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21 and was further extended up to September 2022 with limited outlay.   In the State of  Assam,  the  projects  completed  under  FMP  component  of  FMBAP  have  given  protection  to  an  area  of around 7.21 Lakh ha and protected a population of about 17.7 million.