DoNER minister B. K. Handique at Jorhat on Wednesday. Picture by UB Photos

Jorhat, Feb. 16: The DoNER ministry will fund a short-term course for junior engineers in Assam government departments to check erosion.

DoNER minister B.K. Handique today told The Telegraph that his ministry has tied up with IIT Guwahati to run a special three-month course for diploma engineers to find better ways to prevent erosion by the Brahmaputra.

Speaking on the sidelines of a foundation-laying ceremony of a zonal sports complex on the Assam Agricultural University campus here, Handique said the course had been prepared by IIT Guwahati to update the engineers with “latest techniques” to tackle river erosion.

The special short-term training course will commence “very soon” at the institute for diploma engineers in the government departments involved in anti-erosion work, he said. The minister said students of diploma engineering institutes of the region could also enrol in the course.

The DoNER move assumes significance as, according to government data, in the past 50 years, the Brahmaputra has wiped out nearly 4,000 square km of area, destroyed more than 2,500 villages and affected nearly 5 million people in Assam. According to information available with the water resources department, the department had identified 25 vulnerable and very severe erosion-prone sites in the state and estimated that the Assam valley portion of the Brahmaputra has lost approximately 7.4 per cent of its land area because of riverbank erosion.

The minister also said the DoNER ministry was having discussions with IIM Shillong to start short-term courses in the hospitality sector.

Earlier, speaking as the chief guest at the foundation-laying function on the university campus, Handique said as part of the Centre’s effort to have closer ties between the Northeast and the Southeast Asian countries there would be exchange of football teams between the region and Myanmar.

Assam Agricultural University vice-chancellor K.M. Bujarbaruah in his address said the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the proposed zonal sports complex. The complex will have a swimming pool, volleyball court, basketball court, table tennis boards, a gymnasium and a football field.

Bujarbaruah said the present indoor stadium, which has badminton courts, would be upgraded.

The vice-chancellor urged the minister to use his good office to include the Assam Agricultural University among the 150 universities across the country to be elevated to Central University status in the near future. He also requested the DoNER ministry to provide funds to set up a northeastern region agricultural complex at Guwahati on the lines of the National Agricultural Complex in Delhi to help boost research in this sector.