Erosion Included As a Natural Calamity by 15th Finance Comm: Sonowal

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday said that the 15th Finance Commission has included erosion as a natural calamity in the government relief manual. He said that though erosion was a major problem in Assam, it was not considered as a natural calamity. The Chief Minister said that the State Government made a representation to the Commission for this purpose earlier. He observed that the recent move of the Commission would facilitate the flow of a substantial amount of funds for erosion protection.

The Chief Minister made a visit to Lalpukhuri area on Tuesday which is affected by erosion of Buroi River and inspected the erosion protection measures being undertaken by the water resources department at Chatrang river at Gohpur in Biswanath district.

A guard wall is being built on the bank of Chatrang River by the water resources department with an expenditure of Rs. 5 crore. He also went to Lohitmukh in the district which was affected by erosion of Brahmaputra River.

While interacting with the media persons after visiting erosion hit areas of Buroi river, the Chief Minister said that several hectares of land was lost due to erosion in the State. He said that in the last seven decades of independence, Narendra Modi was the country's first Prime Minister who took a scientific approach to find out a permanent solution to the flood and erosion problem of the North East. He informed that the high level committed constituted by the PM under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog vice-chairman recommended for the constitution of North East Water Management Authority for tackling the perennial flood and erosion problem of the region. He stated that the Central Government would take necessary steps for its implementation in the forthcoming session of the parliament.