Skip to content Skip to navigation

NGO lambastes Brahmaputra Board

GUWAHATI: At a time when floodwave and erosion continue to ravage Assam, a mute Brahmaputra Board runs with a section of corrupt officials and an “illegaly appointed” officier at its helm of affairs.

Speaking to assamtimes, chairman with Assam Enviro-Legal Protection Society Anjan Goswami alleges that set up to check flood and erosion in the state with as many as 48 projects, the Board now runs without a permanent chairman which is a clear violation of the Section 4 of the Brahmaputra Board Act, 1980.

“We have already knocked at the door of the Gauhati High Court to challenge the appointment of Dr TG Anthony Balan, who was stated to be a retired person.

He was allowed to function as the chairman of the Board without any lawful extension of his service and without the approval of the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC),” says the legal advisor with the NGO legal advisor NH Mazharbhuyan.

According to Mr Majarbhuyan, “after the filing of a case (No 2714/2007) at the Gauhati High Court, Balan was replaced.

“And that too by SK Choudhury, a Shillong-based Chief Engineer of Brahmaputra and Barak Basins under the Central Water Commission by giving him the additional charge of running the board.”

The officials with the NGO maintain that as per the laid down rules, the sitting vice-president of the Board PK Deka should have given the charge in the absence of the chairman which didnot happen, they rue.

Mr Goswami further levels an accusing finger against a section of Board officials saying these people engage contractors from outside and also in several cases , payments are made illegally in advance.

Mr Mazharbhuyan and Mr Goswami say they will leave for New Delhi soon to apprise the Union water resource minister and the as the MPs from the North-east, of the irregularities and functionings that have been puncturing the Board.

Add new comment

Random Stories

Scribes being targeted in peaceful countries too: RSF

27 Oct 2018 - 1:36pm | AT News
GUWAHATI, 26 October: Press freedom is under threat across the globe and South Asia is no different. In fact, some worrying trends emerging in this region have far reaching implications for...

Pentavalent vaccination launches in East Siang

24 Nov 2015 - 9:21am | HK Roy
Joining the rest of the country, Pentavalent vaccine was launched on Saturday in East Siang District. Now the multiple numbers of injections containing five antigens will be reduced to just one...

Leopard ruthlessly beaten up to death

26 Mar 2012 - 3:22am | editor
A full grown leopard was killed and four others have been injured when a section of local residents pounded on these creatures in Guwahati on Sunday. The incident took place in at Garobasti in...

Hmar Students Freshers' meet on Sept 5

4 Sep 2015 - 3:09pm | Simon L Infimate
Amid strong enthusiasm and great anticipation the Hmar Students Association is all set to celebrate social meet and organise Freshers' welcome function in Guwahati on September 5. Organised...

Other Contents by Author

An eerie silence is prevailing in the Beltola area a day after the mob violence that killed several people and that too in full view of the police. But the authorities are relaxing curfew in the area till 8 in the evening. During this period no untoward incidents have been reported so far. The students body in the tea garden has given a 36 hour statewide Assam bandh call from Monday morning 5 to end at 5 in the evening on Tuesday.
The situation in the city is limping back to normalcy a day after a string of violence in the Beltola area of the city where several people are feared killed besides as many as two hundred injured.The district administration has relaxed curfew from 8 in the morning till 8 in the evening it clamped on Saturday at the height of the clash between a section of the Assam Adivashi Students Association activists and some local residents.Moreover, the Assam Government has sounded red alert to beef up security arrangement to prevent the incidents from dispersing to upper Assam districts. Stunned by the public criticism for lapse in law and order situation, Chief Minister has ordered a high level...
Weather is fine and so also tourists from the state and even from France and others foreign counties are rushing to Majuli to attend the Raas festival in the world’s largest river island which gets underway on Saturday.Amid tight security arrangement, the Jorhat district administration is arranging special ferry services for the people to reach Majuli. The people in the island too are making elaborate arrangement to make the grand festival a success.Speaking to Assam Times, the central celebration committee officials of the Rass Festival say nine tourists are also arriving to attend the Raas Lila of the Lord Krishna.Its 167th year for the Dakshinpaat Sattra, which has been observing...
As many as thirteen people have been killed, about two hundred injured on Saturday while some Adivasi people clashed with the local residents in the city’s Beltola area forcing the authorities to impose curfew in Ganeshguri and Dispur and then to Khanapara.According to police, the clash began as soon as some ten thousand Adivasi people, armed with bows and arrows were taking out a processing towards the Capital complex demanding schedule tribe status. Some of them turned violent and started attacking the local residents.They vandalized some shops, markets and damaged more than one hundred vehicles. The passengers inside the city buses plying on the Dispur Basistha areaare not also...
The State Election Commission (SEC) is gearing up for holding a free and fair panchayat polls in the state as the Gauhati High Court has cleared the decks.According to information, the poll notification will be issued on November 29 and the model code of conduct will come into force.The authority has already issued strict instructions to the district administrations for necessary arrangement to make the polls a free and fair.The state poll panel will hold the election in three phases and the results are expected before January 15. But sources here say the voters will have to go with ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the polls.The polls will elect as many as 242...
The heat and dust for the North Cachar Hills district council died down on Friday at five in the afternoon. The polls are scheduled on November 26 and December 1. No party could hog the limelight in the campaign in view of thedeteriorating law and order situation.The Government is beefing up security arrangement to ensure a free and fair polls in the hills district. Altogether 57 candidates in the fray including Haflong’s sitting MLA and former minister Govinda Prasad Langthasa.
The All Assam Students Union has threatened to sit in stir against the Board of Secondary Education alleging it refuses to accept the syllabus prepared by them.AASU leaders alleged gross anomalies in the implementation of the syllabus prepared by them for the high school level.They have also charged the Board officials with violating the minutes of the meeting where an expert committee was set up to prepare the syllabus.
The retirement age of Assam government employees rises up to 60 years. The order was issued on Tuesday to come into effect from November 30.According to official estimates, more than 6000 employees will benefit from this extension who reach their superannuation.The Assam government raised the retirement age to 59 from 58 years just before the last Assembly polls in 2005.
A huge fund scam resurfaces in Assam police in its Tenth Assam Police Battalion. It is now being probed by the Criminal Investigation Department for alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of several crores. Meanwhile, Dispur police on Tuesday arrested two fourth Assam Police battalion employees for siphoning off funds. The arrested employees are Hemanta Baruah and Nur Alam.
The Tiwa students bodies have withdrawn the 48 hour bandh call from Monday morning.Speaking to Assam Times over telephone, the leaders with the organisation say the decision was taken in view of the meeting with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on November 22 at Dispur.Mr Gogoi has already confirmed it, they say. The student bodies were striking in protest against the government move to hold panchayat polls in the areas falling under the Tiwa Autonomous District Councils.They were preparing for a three hour long road blockade in Jagiroad on November 27.