ADB team in Arunachal to study flood problems

Itanagar, Feb 05 (UNI) To stop the nagging flood and soil erosion problems with external fundings, a six-member Asian Development Bank (ADB) team has come to Arunachal Pradesh on January 25.

The fact finding mission, which was led by Kenichi Yokoyama, a senior water resources specialist from Japan, informed that at the request of the state government the expert team has started conducting an in-depth technical study.

The team would recommend possible external funding from the bank for short-term flood control measures, flood plan zoning, water resources development, river basin management with focus on catchments areas and institutional development.

The team included Knut Oberhagemann, senior river engineer of Germany, Prof Atul Sarma, socio-economist and former Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University, rural development specialist of Austria and Christopher Joy, flood management specialist of Australia as members, among others.

Travelling on road for 10-hours daily, the team inspected various ongoing,proposed schemes and assessed the problems at Ziro,Daporijo, Basar, Along, Yingkiong, Pasighat, Roing,Tezu,Miao,Namsai, Kharsang, Deomali and Seijosa.

A massive 0.8 million hectare agricultural, urban and forestry lands were flood-prone, according to the state government record, were very high due to low availability of land in the hilly state.

Moreover, rise of river beds, erosion of their banks and migration, sedimentation process, morphological equations,landslides and forestry degradation have aggravated the problems, Mr Yokoyama said adding that ADB despite having a database wanted more inputs.

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