The Railways closed the said sluice gate, that is about 13 kilometre downstream of Dibrugarh, for the construction of the New Dibrugarh Railway Station and track to the proposed Bogibeel Bridge. As an alternative outlet of water, a hume-pipe culvert was built near the Jagalani Grant Area. However, the single culvert has failed to discharge the volume of excess water that flows out of the town.
Meanwhile, the new railway station has also blocked the natural water channel that drained out waters from Jiban Phukon Nagar, Khania Gaon and East Milan Nagar. These areas remained submerged for around three and a half months in mid 2008 because of water-logging.
Dibrugarh MLA Prasanta Phukon foresees the situation becoming worse after the new railway station starts functioning because no measures have been taken to drain out the huge volume of water, around eight lakh litres, which is likely to be used here daily. He has written to the chairman of Railway Board drawing his attention to the need for immediate action.
Last year, the Dibrugarh MLA had written a similar letter to the chief engineer of the Bogibeel Bridge Project to correct the problem. The residents of Jibon Phukon Nagar, Khonia Gaon and East Milan Nagar had made similar appeals.
Meanwhile, Phukon has threatened to launch an agitation if the Railways failed to act immediately.