From Sandeep Sharma
GUWAHATI: The Assam government has proposed to take up a pilot project for flood control involving Central Water Commission (CWC) under Jal Shakti Ministry and water resources department of the state.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biawa Sarma submitted the proposal while attending the Special Meeting of the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) Society here on Saturday.
The meeting was chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah at NESAC HQ at Umiam, here.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that NESAC and ISRO carried out a joint study of flood in Assam and identified 5902 sq km wetland which can be used to divert Brahmaputra water during monsoon to control floods in the state.
He also suggested monitoring of forests at the inter-state border by using space technology.
Issues related to use of space technology for flood control, wetland management, preservation of forest cover in the region etc. were discussed.
Union DONER minister G Kishan Reddy, Union MoS for space Dr. Jitendra Singh, MoS for DONER BL Verma and chief ministers of all NE states also spoke on the occasion.
Secretaries of DoS and DONER, chairman ISRO Dr. K Sivan, director NESAC and chief secretaries of the NE states were also present in the meeting.
The Union home minister had directed the use of NESAC for flood management in the northeastern states in the NESAC meeting in January, in Saturday’s meeting he was told that 110 projects have been drafted in this regard.
Expressing happiness over this, Shah directed to store water in big ponds to make Northeast flood free.
The Union minister said that In comparison to the Thirteenth Finance Commission, 14th Finance Commission provided financial resources of more than 251% to the Northeast and in the upcoming 3 years, developmental works will be done to provide all the facilities to the villages by using it prudently.
Shah added that earlier there was talk of infiltration, terror and corruption in the Northeast but today there is talk of development, connectivity, infrastructure and development.
He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the issues troubling the northeastern region for decades have been resolved, which includes the border dispute with Bangladesh, the peace pact with NLFT, resolution of problems of Bru-Refugees in Tripura and Mizoram and the Bodo Peace Accord.
