As informed by Government of Assam the river Brahmaputra is one of the highest sediment carrying rivers in the country. The observed Annual Silt Load of river Brahmaputra at Pandu, Guwahati for the last five years is tabulated below:

Sl No.	Year	Silt Load (in Metric Ton)
1	2015	14326810.38
2	2016	19991673.01
3	2017	20635639.19
4	2018	13613552.23
5	2019	11991868.38

 

Following steps have been taken by the Water Resources Department, Government of Assam:

A meeting on the proposal of dredging of river Brahmaputra including its tributaries was held on 23/08/2016, under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Assam. As decided in the meeting, a team of experts/officials from Dredging Corporation of India visited Assam from 02/09/2016 to 09/09/2016. On 21/07/2017, the Hon’ble Minister, Water Resources, Assam visited the Head Quarter of Dredging Corporation of India at Visakhapatnam, met the officials of DCI and discussed about the strategy of dredging in Brahmaputra.

Subsequently, a meeting was held on 04/12/2017 under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Assam and it was decided to procure dredger and other machineries for dredging the tributaries in the State. Accordingly, a scheme costing Rs.18.00 Cr has been sanctioned under SDRF and work order has already been issued. The process of procuring the dredgers is in progress.

Moreover, in National Waterway- 2 (NW-2) from Dhubri to Sadiya (891km.) in Assam, which is an operational water way for navigation, Inland Water Way Authority of India (IWAI) undertook regular maintenance dredging for maintaining the required Least Available Depth (LAD) of 2.5 m. depth between Dhubri and Neamati; 2.0 m. depth between Neamati and Dibrugarh and 1.5 m. depth between Dibrugarh and Oriumghat.

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti & Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Rattan Lal Kataria in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

 

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