North Lakhimpur: The Debesuthan Tribal High School in Bholukaguri village, located within the Bahgora-Dhunaguri Gaon Panchayat, under Bihpuria Education Block in Lakhimpur district, Assam, is perilously close to being devoured by the Dikrong River.
The river has been in spate since May 31, following the release of dam water from NEEPCO’s Panyor Hydro Electrical Power (PHEP) station in Yazali, Arunachal Pradesh.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The Debesuthan Tribal High School, founded in 1983 has been the only high school of this riverine area of Lakhimpur district with a homogenous ST population of Mising community. The school has been facing the threat from the approaching Dikrong river in the last two decades losing plenty of its lands.
According to Jagat Bora, the Headmaster of the school, erosion by river Dikrong has washed away 18 bighas of its land in a massive erosion in 2004. The school also lost a building measuring 200 feet long and a girls’ hostel which was 40 feet long in that erosion.
Headmaster Jagat Bora recalls that when they rebuilt Debesuthan Tribal High School in 2009, the Dikrong River flowed approximately 1 kilometer away from its premises. But the unabated erosion in the river has brought the river very close to the school—less than 100 meters away presently.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
He stated that the abnormal rise in the Dikrong River, which NEEPCO’s PHEP plant channeled to the Panyor (Ranganadi) River, has been primarily responsible for its massive erosion towards the school.
Bora asserted that the Debesuthan Tribal High School also has the amalgamated formation of two more schools—the Debesuthan Tribal ME School (established in 1968) in 2017 and Amritpur LP School (established in 1985) in 2002.
“With three stages of education starting from primary to matriculation and with a current intake of 149 students, this institution faces an uncertain future with no funding backup to shift the building to a safer location, ” he noted.
Notably, the Subansiri River’s floodwaters currently inundate Bholukaguri, a newly selected site for the school, due to the breaching of its sluice gate, which also shows a bleak prospect.
With an existential threat, the parents of students of Debesuthan Tribal High School, its teachers and concerned villagers are appealing to the concerned authorities and other stakeholders like the local Gaon Panchayat and Mising Autonomous Council to initiate steps to save the school and to mitigate the flood-erosion problem of river Dikrong in Bholukaguri area of Bihpuria, Assam.