It has become such that whenever people be it politicians or organisations talk about erosion they point their finger towards Rohmoria. For several years now, if the ruling parties try to score political points by using the issue of Rohmoria, the opposition parties often do not lag behind in shedding crocodile’s tears and make loads of promises to settle the problem of erosion in the area.Caught between the devil and the deep sea, thousands of villagers lose their land and fertile fields every year which also erodes their confidence and trust in the government and also in democracy.Rohmoria, which is only 35 kms from the Upper Assam tea city of Dibrugarh has witnessed erosion for the last sixty years after the Brahmaputra changed course due to the earthquake of the 50s. Till date, erosion by the river has wiped off more than 28 revenue villages, most parts of the Dibrugarh-Rangagara-Tinsukia PWD Road, one government sericulture farm, a major portion of the historic Garpara Satra, several hectares from four tea estates etc. Moreover, seven schools had to be re-located, along with a police station and a post office. Last year, the Brahmaputra River created havoc in the area as around 70 families were displaced due to heavy erosion.

The gravity of the situation resulted in angry protests from opposition political parties and various student and youth organizations. The two forums – Rohmoria Erosion Resistance Struggle Forum and the Flood and Erosion Resistance Struggle Forum, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district committee took the lead in organizing several rounds of protests against the government, the Dibrugarh district administration and the Water Resources Department for allegedly not doing anything to arrest erosion in Rohmoria. Finally, after visits by several dignitaries to Rohmoria including the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then Union Water Resources minister Saifuddin Soz, the Centre sanctioned the project which is to be implemented by March 31, 2012.

A recent daylong visit to the work site and interaction with officials engaged in the work revealed that there has been significant siltation in the affected zone due to use of concrete porcupine screens in the area since work began on February 16. The 52.36 crores project is largely divided into two parts of which around 22 crores have been sanctioned for the geo bags while the rest is for porcupine related work. Due to implementation of the project which is a modern and state-of-the-art scientific method to arrest erosion, officials of the water resources department are hopeful that there will be no further erosion this year.

The department is implementing the entire scheme in a nine kilometers stretch along the Brahmaputra River from Bogoritolia to Kasuoni which has been identified as the affected zone. The name of the scheme is ‘Emergent Measures to Protect Rohmoria Area in Dibrugarh District’ and the entire project involves a fund of 52.36 crores sanctioned by the Centre. In the 9 kms stretch the 2.6 kms Garpora-Habichuk-Kasuoni has been the worst affected area and the water resources department has marked it as the flash point for implementation of the scheme.

Implementation of the project has already started showing results. According to the additional chief engineer of the water resources department of Upper Assam Zone Uma Baruah there have been considerable amount of silt deposits along the banks of the Brahmaputra where the project is being implemented. “Siltation along the banks is a primary and very good sign for the success of any anti-erosion work. It indicates that due to placement of porcupines the water channel is moving away from the bank. When we began work the water level along the banks was around 12 to 15 metres as indicated by the digital eco sounder gadget. And of today, the level is 5 to 7 metres only. This is encouraging”, Baruah said. At present the porcupine piling work is going on at the site. On the other hand, the procurement process of geo bags is going on. “There is an assessment that if we use the geo bags now they might get swept away during floods when the water level is high. Therefore, it has been decided that we will be finishing the porcupine work at the earliest and then take up the geo bag work in October when the water level recedes,” Baruah said. The bank trimming work is being carried out for placing the geo bags which will be filled with sand. The geo bag work will be done by M/s. Meccaferri Environmental Solutions Pvt Ltd, an Italian firm which has the experience of implementation of a similar project at Nischintapur on the Hoogly River in Bengal. The Deputy General Manager of the firm Dipankar Basu Mullick said that 8, 68,886 geo bags will be required for the project and already around 4 lakhs have been brought. “We will be bringing the rest within the next couple of weeks,” Mullick said adding that the material is being brought from Australia.The bank trimming work is being carried out for placing the geo bags which will be filled with sand.

Meanwhile, the local villagers in the Rohmoria area have welcomed the anti-erosion measures being taken up by the department. Around 100 to 150 villagers are working under 14 contractors to place concrete porcupines on a daily basis. “I am earning something around 300 to 400 hundred rupees per day. I have lost 8 bighas of fertile land during the past three years. Whatever is gone is gone, if the project succeeds our future generation will be secure,” 38 year old Prabin Saikia, a villager of Habichuk said. The representatives of the two forums – Rohmoria Erosion Resistance Struggle Forum and the Flood and Erosion Resistance Struggle Forum, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district committee too have been co-operating with the government machinery in successful implementation of the project. Both the forums have expressed hope that the government will not betray the people of Rohmoria this time and complete the project on time. “For the government, Rohmoria has become a case of betrayal for several decades now. This time, however, we are witnessing some amount of sincerity from the government side in implementation of the project. Therefore, we are extending whatever assistance is required at the site. We also want to see the project completed within the stipulated timeframe,” Ghanen Gogoi, the President of the Rohmoria Erosion Resistance Struggle Forum said.Leaders of the forum are ensuring that there is a steady supply of man power, particularly from the affected villages to work as labourers for the project. Villagers in the area who have been ruined by the erosion are given priority to work at the site so that they can earn some livelihood to stabilize their family as government compensation packages have been unable to do so.

For the time being people are looking forward for timely completion of the ambitious project which is also a ‘prestige project’ for the officials of the water resources department engaged in implementation of the project.

Ripunjoy Das