Forest guards inside the Kaziranga National Park. File picture

Jorhat, Aug. 27: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has instituted a model study to ascertain the impact of a Rs 109-crore project to carry out anti-erosion measures on the Brahmaputra along Kaziranga National Park. The decision comes after the forest department declined to give a no objection certificate (NOC) to the project supported by the organisation. Kunut Oberhagemall, an ADB expert on water resources from Germany, is camping at Kaziranga to carry out the study.

“There could be a slight change on the detailed project report (DPR) as there is concern that implementation of the project might have an adverse impact. To allay such fears, the ADB study will assess the impact of such constructions on the national park and its adjoining areas,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, chief executive officer of Assam Integrated Flood & Riverbank Erosion Management Agency, told The Telegraph.

Prasad added that the study is likely to take only a few months and subsequently work on the project would start with slight changes in the DPR.

Sources said the forest department has raised concerns that construction of the embankment might trigger a rise in the water level of the Brahmaputra near the national park, which might have an adverse impact on the park. Another area of concern is that construction of the embankment would result in the floodwaters remaining stagnant in vast areas in and around the national park for a long duration. Felling of at least 2,000 trees in the reaches of Kaziranga to carry out construction work has also got the department worried.

The project, submitted by the water resources department in 2009-2010, proposes to provide a 4.7 km secondary embankment to prevent sudden intrusion of floodwaters into the national park, three sluice gates along the national park boundary dyke, and 3km of riverbank protection through siltation measures using porcupines.

According to official records, the area between Arimora and Agoratoli in the national park has been under constant threat of erosion since 1970. Erosion became serious in 1998 for which the forest department shifted anti-poaching camps located in the area.

The river is now flowing a few meters away from the forest inspection bungalow located at Arimora. The water resources department had first submitted a Rs 220-crore project proposal to the ADB in 2006 for protection of Kaziranga from the onslaught of Brahmaputra. Subsequently a six-member ADB team, led by Kenechy Yakoyama, visited the national park.

The ADB team, however, directed the water resources department to submit a separate project with less use of boulders following which the latter submitted a DPR worth Rs 109 crore. The clearance of this ambitious project hangs in the balance following the Kaziranga National Park authorities declining to clear the NOC.

The Kaziranga National Park is carrying out a Rs 2-crore project to check rampant erosion by the river at the Arimora area. Sources said only 35 per cent of the work has been completed till now.