Guwahati, Sept. 9: Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today said 'dredging of the Brahmaputra was impossible'.
Criticising the initiative of BJP-led governments to dredge the river to check floods and boost its navigational potential so that it could be smoothly connected with international ports such as Chittagong in Bangladesh and Haldia in Bengal, Gogoi said, 'An expert committee was formed by the BJP-led state government in February this year. Many scholars of the state were included in the committee. They were also carrying out studies on how to dredge the Brahmaputra. But now we see that the state government is not following the expert committee's recommendations. Then why was it formed?'
He went on to add, 'Actually, dredging the Brahmaputra is totally impossible. In our tenure we had also taken up a similar initiative. But ultimately, we came to know that it is not possible because of its unique character.'
The Brahmaputra National Waterway 2 is 890km, extending from Sadiya in Assam to the Bangladesh border.
Work is scheduled to start in November. The Centre is going to allocate Rs 40,000 crore for the project.
Today, Gogoi also raised thequestion about the slow rate of development in the state. 'The state government announced that last year the Centre had allocated around Rs 10,000 crore for Assam, which has now been increased to Rs 13,000 crore. But we did not see development in any sector,' Gogoi said.
He also demanded that chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal make his stand clear on the disputed area of Assam-Nagaland border.
Criticising the recent visit of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to Assam, Gogoi said, 'I am not opposed to it. But his visit to Academic Staff College will not be tolerated.'
Gogoi welcomed the moves by AASU and all other organisations of the state that continuously raise their voice against the 'misdeeds' of the BJP led state government.
'I would like to thank AASU and others for their stand against every incident that has affected Assamese society,' the former chief minister said.
