8-Aug-2022: De-Silting of Rivers

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), on the basis of analysis of 25 years of data of river Yamuna has informed that, in general, there has been bed level changes in deep channel in the range of 1 to 2 meter which include erosion as well as deposition. Major changes in bed profile have been observed in the years of high floods. Based on a Detailed Project Report completed in January 2020, IWAI has assessed the minimum depth of river Yamuna from Jagatpur in Delhi to the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers at Sangam, Prayagraj (1,089 km) which is summarized as under:

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 slope, morphology, nature of silt etc. The issue of desilting 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) had studied the siltation pattern in few rivers in India. The Committee has opined that large scale desilting 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.

Desilting of rivers in vulnerable reaches may be undertaken based on model study, if it is found techno-economical viable. Cost effective measures for removal of drainage congestion in specific reaches of rivers for channel capacity improvement and navigation purposes are formulated and implemented by concerned States/ agencies as per requirement. The Union Government renders assistance to States which is technical, advisory, catalytic and promotional in nature.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued Sustainable Sand Mining Guidelines, 2016 and Enforcement & Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining, 2020 for matters related to sand mining.