The eroded Dhubri Sunset View Point Park

July 14: A surging Brahmaputra is washing away chunks of a river island park, which the administration took more than Rs 30 lakh to decorate but forgot the more essential embankments.

Ten bighas of the 42-bigha Sunset View Point Park have been washed away in just a week, and what took three years to build may be under water in less than three months if anti-erosion measures are taken up immediately.

The Srimanta Sankardev Sangha, a socio-cultural organisation that had been entrusted to manage the park by the district administration, managed to save a few decorations but can’t overcome the sinking feeling.

The Sunset View Point, located diagonally opposite the Dhubri Circuit House and the gurdwara of Sri Guru Teg Bhadur Sahibji, was being pegged as the next tourist destination.

The island was first spotted by Biswa Ranjan Samal, the deputy commissioner of the district in 1998, but the idea of the park did not go any further than a blueprint.

When Avinash Joshi took charge as deputy commissioner in 2004, he began work on the project on a war footing.

Joshi gathered Rs 17 lakh from Dhubri MP and employed some clauses of the Swarna Jayanti Rozgar Yojana to build the park.

In the first phase, a platform was raised, trees planted and sheds constructed.

The area was fenced with barbed wire.

By March, the park had two rooms with a dinning area, a huge garden, swings and see-saw.

The district administration also installed an overhead water tank and a generator in case tourists wished to spend the night there.

But no measures were taken to arrest erosion.

Secretary of the Srimanta Sankardev Sangha Ranjeet Kumar Roy said the organisation had anticipated the erosion some six months ago and had offered Rs 50,000 to the district administration for anti-erosion measures. But the offer went unheeded.

“What else could we do, we have a limitation of funds. But if the district administration had acted upon our request and executed anti-erosion work then, the park could have been saved. We have not lost hope though. We will soon sit and chalk out a comprehensive project to save and develop this park,” Roy said.