AGARTALA, August 16 (TIWN): The state government is looking forward to conduct a flood, erosion and socio-economic study of the major rivers of Tripura, official sources said. The source said that a meeting of the state disaster management authority recently asked the Department of Water Resources to conduct the study following which the latter informed deficiency of technical expertise.

“They suggested to bring in experts from other states which might have done similar surveys before”, a source said. The source further informed that most embankments alongside major rivers of the state have become old and feeble. The embankments need to be strengthened and habitations near them should be cleared immediately with proper relocation initiatives, the source said.

Rivers like Howrah and Gomati are reported to have dramatically reduced riverbed levels due to which possibilities of flash floods during the monsoon have increased in the past few years. “In Tripura, there are the problems of spilling and erosion by rivers”, a recent report of Planning Commission said.

The revenue department sought a toposheet from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) for geochemical mapping and water resource tracking. The issue would be soon reiterated with the GSI authorities, the source said. Tripura is currently having two operational flood forecasting stations.

The central government provided grant-in-aid to the state governments of Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir for maintenance of the flood protection works and also grant-in-aid for river bank protection and anti-erosion works along International border with Bangladesh.