The 83rd meeting of Brahmaputra Board was held in the conference hall at Niathu Resort, Chümoukedima on 14th October, 2024 hosted by the Department of Water Resources, Nagaland. The meeting was chaired by the Chairman of Brahmaputra Board, Dr. Ranbir Singh, IAS (R).
Brahmaputra Board under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation is a body established by the Government of India to plan and implement erosion control works and flood control measures in the North East region. The 83rd Brahmaputra Board meeting deliberated on various agendas in NER.
The event saw participation from central government bodies like Brahmaputra Board, NERIWALM, NEHARI, Survey of India (SOI) etc. and state government departments of Water Resources represented by Chief Engineers from all NE states except Sikkim.
While welcoming the members, the Chairman Dr. Ranbir Singh, IAS (R) reiterated on the need of mutual collaboration among like-minded and allied departments and agencies to frame sustainable projects in the NER pertaining to Water Resources management and conservation. He pointed out that in the context of water resources management in this country, North Eastern States is very important because NE has the mightiest river Brahmaputra and NE accounts for 30% of almost 1/3rd of local body water resource management. With the potential there in the NE states, there is still a problem faced in terms of erosion, floods, loss of lives, property etc. due to not systematically pursuing the realisation of potential and henceforth there is a need to think about it on how to face the water issues by exercising in coordinating with the water resources department.
He said that NE has to play a big role not as agencies but as an organisation to address the issues of strengthening the Brahmaputra board, then only Brahmaputra Board will be in a position to provide the technical support and guidance and resources through the States.
The Chairman mentioned that for the interest of everyone and for the future of all the States, every state must participate in this necessity and program in order to prove to the region and state and achieve the potential. He also pointed out that, one important contribution in the context of BB is to provide manpower, there is a severe shortage of Deputy engineers, superintendent engineers, executive engineers. Dr. Ranbir Singh appealed all the states to sponsor a candidate for the project to develop Brahmaputra as an organisation of exercising high level of technical and leadership technician, if such officers are deputed than in the next five years we can transform the board in a different way. India is committed to it, hence urged all the state stakeholders to work towards the progress of Brahmaputra board.
The event also showcased innovative designs from WRD, Nagaland that incorporates power generation component in the irrigation works and the concept of Trench Weir which is specifically designed for irrigation in hilly regions and a Web-GIS technology developed inhouse by WRD, Meghalaya for mapping of springs in the state. The state of Mizoram also presented an ongoing study of spring restoration cum recharge project under National Hydrology Project where a positive trend has been observed in the discharge of the springs.
Further, Survey of India (SOI) informed that it has resources available for government agencies for free after the liberalization of the institution in recent years. SOI is further moving towards providing more accurate maps/data in the near future and implored the central and state government agencies to make use of freely available geo-spatial data in the planning and execution of projects.
