Question : Dredging of Rivers

(a) whether the Government has undertaken dredging of rivers across the country to reduce flooding and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the names of rivers where dredging work is going on or has been undertaken by the Government during the last one year;
(c) whether in view of recent floods in different States especially in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Government has chalked out a plan to dredge rivers across the country in the coming months and if so, the details thereof;
(d) the total amount spent by the Government in consultation with States on dredging of rivers during the last three years, river-wise; and
(e) the results achieved during monsoon season due to this exercise and further steps taken or being taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI & SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT

(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)

(a), (b), (c) & (e) Erosion and deposition of silt is a natural process in alluvial rivers. Rivers pickup, carry and drop silt load as per their regime conditions i.e. discharge in the river, river slope, morphology, nature of silt etc. The issue of desilting / dredging of rivers has been considered by Government since long and in this context a multi-disciplinary Committee headed by Former Chairman, Central Water Commission in 2002 (Mittal Committee) has opined that large scale desilting or dredging of rivers in general is not feasible technically due to several reasons like non-sustainability, non-availability of vast land required for the disposal of dredged material etc. The Committee, however, suggested that selective dredging may be undertaken depending upon local conditions. The desilting measures including dredging in specific reaches of rivers for removal of drainage congestion, channel capacity improvement and navigation purpose are undertaken by concerned States/ agencies as per requirement.

(d) Data on funds allocated / spent by States on dredging of rivers is not maintained centrally. The measures for flood management including desilting / dredging of rivers are formulated and implemented by the State Governments as per their priority. The Government of India supplements the efforts of State Governments by providing technical advice and promotional financial assistance for flood management in critical areas. Government of India launched Flood Management Programme (FMP) during XI Plan for providing financial assistance to the State Governments for taking up works related to river management, flood control, anti-erosion, drainage development, flood proofing works, restoration of damaged flood management works and anti-sea erosion works which was continued during XII Plan and further extended up to March 2021 as a component under Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP). State-wise central assistance released to States/UTs under FMBAP during the last three years is given at Annexure I.
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ANNEXURE- I

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1869 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 22.9.2020 REGARDING “DREDGING OF RIVERS".

State-wise central assistance released to States/UTs under Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP) during last three years

Rs in crores
S. No. States 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 Total funds released
1 Arunachal Pradesh 21.18 0 0 21.18
Assam 245.49 142.12 85.03 472.64
2 Bihar 52.57 132.27 65.29 250.13
3 Himachal Pradesh 87.5 162.6 176.41 426.51
4 Jammu & Kashmir 119.17 55.0325 97.058 271.2605
5 Kerala 19.05 0 0 19.05
6 Mizoram 0.48 0 0 0.48
7 Nagaland 0 10.84 0 10.84
8 Uttar Pradesh 103.98 87.87 39.15 231
9 Uttarakhand 0 4.63 35.58 40.21
10 Punjab 7.4725 0 0 7.4725
11 West Bengal 65.03 89.3 117.12 271.45
Total 721.923 684.663 615.638 2022.223






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