Majuli Island Land Mass Reduced To 522.73 Sq Km In 2013: Government

The size of Majuli Island in the Brahmaputra River in Assam has come down by over 28 per cent in 2013 from 733.79 sq km in 1940, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday (10 August).

Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said this in response to a question in the Lok Sabha as to whether the land erosion in the island is increasing.

"As per the information provided by the government of Assam, the land mass area of Majuli Island has reduced from 733.79 sq km as per Survey of India map of 1940 to about 522.73 sq km in year 2013," he said.

However, on implementation of works under various phases by the Brahmaputra Board from 2004, there is some gain of land mass area of Majuli Island since 2004 till 2016.

The total gain was 22.08 sq km.

"As per satellite imagery also, the total land mass area of Majuli Island was 524.29 sq km in 2016," the minister said.

"Recently, the Brahmaputra Board has also initiated the flood management and erosion control works in Majuli Island with the financial assistance of Rs 207 crore from the Ministry of DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region)," the minister added.

(PTI)