|Correspondent|
PASIGHAT, Jul 31: As part of their efforts on flood protection works in between Seram and Borguli villages to save Mebo Dhola road which is reportedly on the verge of being washed away, the residents of Seram and Kongkul villages under Namsing circle of Mebo sub-division in East Siang district came up with a mass social service.
The villagers of Seram and Kongkul have been working at the MDR point in between Borguli and Seram villages, at Kesung Patang area where barely a few metres are left to wash away MDR like that of Namsing where portion of the same road was washed away recently.
The villagers were seen engaging their men and materials including a domesticated elephant to lift logs and trees cut down to be put on the bank of river Siang where erosion was continuously taking place. This portion of MDR, if breached, may turn out to be more disastrous as the course of Siang river may enter into Tatsing river where depth of this small river is lower than the flooding Siang river. If Siang river joins Tatsing the entire agricultural fields of Borguli and Seram will be destroyed and the newly shifted Seram village from its old location will also again get deluged by Siang river.
It is worth mentioning here that the entire old course of Siang River got completely changed after the major Chinese flood of the year 2000. Siang River’s course started changing since that year’s flood which, as per sources, had taken place due to releasing of huge volumes of river water by China through the dams they constructed on Siang river in its upper ridges, which is called Tsangpo in Tibet.
Meanwhile, the Seram village secretary Amit Modi informed that the villagers of Seram are working hard to minimize the soil erosion by erecting boulder bunds, tightening the trunk of ‘falling’ trees on the river bank by strong wire, through using banana trees etc.
On the other hand, the Namsing village is still continuing its voluntary flood protection works at the site in between Namsing and Kongkul villages where a portion of MDR was breached recently and Namsing village is also on the verge of being eroded.
The engineers of WRD, PWD were also seen supervising the works at the site. Two electric poles were also shifted from the location in order to protect the poles from being washed away by the flooding Siang River and also to provide regular power supply to the people of Lower Mebo.