Silchar, June 28: Barak river, the second largest river in Assam, has earned a dubious distinction: it is one of the 37 most polluted rivers in the country. And Silchar has been identified as the single-largest source of the pollutants draining into the river.
The river ? which springs from the Saramati Hills at a point south of Mao on Kohima-Imphal highway and winds its way through its 902 km course till it merges with the Meghna in Bangladesh ? has been found to be highly polluted by the Central Pollution Control Board during a recent survey on on behalf of the Ganga Project Directorate.
Water samples were collected from select sites on the highly polluted 20-km stretch of the river near this town and scrutinised against 20 basic parametres to test the quality of water.
The tests revealed the presence of an alarming level of bacteriological contaminants in the water samples.
The survey traced the presence of the lethal coliform bacteria (both total and faecal) in the samples between 1,500 maximum possible number (MPN) per 100 ml and 1,10,000 MPN per 100 ml in June. The excess coliform spawns a wide spectrum of ailments such as diarrhoea, cholera and hepatitis.
Kamal Kalyan Dutta, an enviromental engineer with the state Pollution Control Board, said such high presence of coliform was a cause for alarm as the tolerance limit of such pollutants is 50 MPN per 100 ml.
The 93-page report on the level of pollution in the Barak river system has identified this burgeoning town in south Assam as the biggest single source of pollutants disgorged into the river by way of the multifarious human activities and human metabolism system. The report has found the untreated sewage, household wastes, commercial solid wastes and untreated water to be the most active contaminants.
The report holds the absence of underground or covered drainage and sewerage system at this town responsible for the high level of pollution of the Barak river.
According to an official document, as much as 50 tonnes of both organic and inorganic garbage is generated each day in this town alone, and much of these flow into the river. Added to this is nearly 8,000 kilolitres of urban wastewater which drain into the river daily.
The PCB has recommended setting up a network of underground sewerage pipelines in the urban and populated areas along the severely-polluted stretch of the Barak for collecting the garbage in a centralised system and then subjecting it to proper treatment.
ATM network
The Assam Co-operative Apex Bank will launch a network of automated teller machines (ATM) in the state capital within two months, according to a staff reporter in Guwahati.
The ATM network is part of the bank?s vision plan 2010 wherein it is trying to re-position itself as the ?banker to resurgent Assam?. Sources in Dispur said the government-supported bank is holding talks with three companies, including a multinational, for installation of user-friendly ATMs. The ATMs would be later updated so that they can be accessed with ATMs of other banks as well.
