The Gauhati High Court disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed praying for a direction to the respondents for granting approval to the Central Water Commission to the scheme R/S to B/Dyke from Bahari to Baghbor including protection of Bahari and its adjoining areas along with channelization of river Brahmaputra and reclamation of eroded land.
It is also prayed that the respondents be directed to take up the issue of erosion of Brahmaputra and its tributaries as a national problem so as to take holistic and scientific approach to solve the problem of erosion. Certain other ancillary relief has also been prayed.
R.K.D. Choudhury, Deputy Solicitor General of lndia (DSGI), has submitted that an affidavit is filed on behalf of the respondents, wherein, the efforts to tackle the problem of erosion of Brahmaputra and its Tributaries has been mentioned.
It is submitted that the respondents are seriously making efforts to tackle the problems highlighted by the petitioners in this PIL.
In the latest affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents , the efforts carried out by the respondents to tackle the problem of erosion in the Brahmaputra and its Tributaries has been mentioned in paragraph 4, which is :-
“4. That the deponent begs to state that compliance to the comments of Hydrology (NE) Directorate, CWC were submitted by Project Authorities on 17/04/2024. Accordingly , the aspects regarding Hydrology was finalized vide letter dated 15/05/2024 and the same forwarded to Project Authorities vide email dated 15/05/2024 with a request to submit modified DPR along with the compliance of earlier observations issued by the Central Water Commission at earliest for needful action. Project authorities were reminded to sent compliance vide letter dated 27/06/2024. However, the modified DPR from Project Authorities is still awaited.”
R. M. Das, counsel appearing for the Water Resources Department , has submitted that the modified DPR from the Project Authorities has already been received and the same has been sent to the Chief Engineer, BBO, CWC, for further action. The project undertaken by the respondents will hopefully tackle the problem of erosion in the Bahari to Baghbor.
It is also submitted that the project would be implemented by maintaining the time limit and standards.
At this stage, counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the efforts carried out by the respondents to tackle the problems highlighted in the PIL petition are being addressed in a proper manner and, therefore, no further direction is required to be passed in this PIL petition for the present.
In view of the above submission, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Suman Shyam deemed it appropriate to close the PIL petition.