ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the long-standing conflict between local communities and the government authorities over flood control measures, especially with respect to embankments in the Jiadhal River in the Dhemaji District of Assam, which is one of the most flood affected districts of the country. The affected people started demanding proper compensation, rehabilitation and river training measures so that the river is diverted towards the west, and the bulk of it flows through the original channel of Kumatiya. The Jiadhal Nadi Baan Pratirodh Oikya Mancha (JOM) has also developed a plan of embankments with schematic diagrams incorporating their learning and experience of the impacts of structural measures, and local knowledge of the river's behaviour. The political economy of flood control programmes especially that of embankments play a major role in creating vested interest groups, often a nexus of officials, contractors and politicians which want to perpetuate the problem of flood and erosion.
