Silchar, April 24: Assam water resources department secretary Rajen Das has directed engineers and contractors of Karimganj water resource division to complete the pending construction of embankments along the three major rivers in the district by this month.

Das, during his three-day visit to the district, inspected the construction of embankments along the rivers Longai, Singla and Kushiara, around 65km from here. "The quality of the construction of all the embankments is good. However, the pace of the work has been a bit slower than expected. Work is incomplete in many locations also," Das said.

Das reached Karimganj from Guwahati on Saturday. During the inspection, he was accompanied by several officials, including assistant chief engineer of the state water resources department Gobinda Kalita, executive engineer of water resources division Achinta Roy, assistant executive engineers Ganesh Sharma, Sudhendu Das and a few others. Das will return to Guwahati today. Besides embankments, Das also inspected the major sluice gates and culverts in several areas, including Chargola and Deolakhal and directed the officials to complete the pending work soon.

Roy said construction of all embankments was going on in full swing, however, heavy spells of showers have been hindering progress. "Karimganj usually witnesses around 4,000mm rainfall every year between May 15 and October 15, which is considered the flood period in the valley. However, the district has so far experienced around 900mm rainfall (around 25 per cent). This is not a very good indication, considering that the flood period has not even started yet," he said.

"Intermittent rainfall for a few days after March 28 posed serious trouble for workers to construct the embankments across the district. The work is under way at a good pace and hopefully we will be able to complete all the pending work by this month, if weather conditions remain favourable," Roy said.

He said Das had inspected different locations, including Salepur, Muraura, Nalibari, Kachua and others. He also had an inspection to Kurikhala, a village along the India-Bangladesh border in the district, where erosion has been a major threat for many years.

"An amount of Rs 15 crore has been allocated for work under the Karimganj water resources division. Construction of embankments, culverts and other work to prevent erosion in certain locations are being done with the sanctioned amount," Roy added.