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Majuli: PM likely to make aerial survey

Sushanta Talukdar

State government to put together presentation on Majuli
Religious heads to inform PM on threat to Sattras

Guwahati: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to undertake a low altitude flight over Majuli during his visit to Assam on August 25-26 for an aerial assessment of the flood and erosion problem gripping the river-island.

The State government is also working on power point presentations — one by the Water Resources Department and the other by the Department of Cultural Affairs — on Majuli to apprise Dr. Singh of the shrinkage of the river-island due to heavy erosion of its land mass.

New medical college

On August 25, Dr. Singh is scheduled to lay the foundation for a new medical college at Jorhat, address a public meeting at Nagaon and meet the Council of Ministers.

The next day, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation for a university at Kokrajhar and attend a function at the Indian Institute of Technology here.

Sattradhikars (religious heads of the Sattras —Vashnavite monasteries) from Majuli will meet the Prime Minister during his visit to the medical college at Jorhat during which they will apprise him about the threat caused by the unchecked erosion to the island and Sattras.

About one fourth of the river-island is currently under floodwater after a fresh wave of flood hit Majuli earlier this week, forcing a large number of islanders to take shelter on embankments.

Majuli was re-nominated by the Central government for inclusion in the World Heritage Site this year. However, it did not find a place in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The former Governor, Lt. Gen. (retd) Ajay Singh, in a letter on June 27, 2007, had urged the Prime Minister to take a serious view of the situation at Majuli.

“The fact that Majuli is continuously getting eroded is common knowledge but what is most disturbing is that before 1950 the total area of the island was 1,256 sq. km; in 1970, it was reduced to 770 sq. km and in 1990 it further was reduced to 514 sq. km. Continuous erosion has resulted in depletion of its size by 156 sq. km i.e. 20 per cent in the last 20 years. As per surveys, the rate of erosion has been 7.4 sq. km of land every year.”

“Because of this continuous erosion and flooding of the island, only 22 Sattras of the total 64 existed,” the Governor wrote in his letter.

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