HT Correspondent
SIVASAGAR, Oct 15: In what appears to be a real success story, the executive engineer of Sivasagar Water Resource department, Utpal Majumdar was awarded a patent certificate (Patent No 409047) for his innovative erosion control measure by the Patent Office, Government of India on Thursday. The Patent Office describes it as an “invention entitled Erosion Shield” and has granted it for the term of 20 years from June 22, 2015, the date on which the application (No 694/KOL/2015) was filed following the provisions of the Patent Act, 1970.
Utpal Majumdar, a postgraduate in soil mechanics and foundation engineering applied his new technique as an immediate erosion control measure in Afala, near Disangmukh where the Brahmaputra dyke erosion took a serious turn two years back. The PSC porcupines used there and the vetiver plantation for protection of the bank did not work. The main channel of the river swept away about 130 meters of soil on the bank between 2019 to 2021. Majumdar, with blessings from the minister of Water Resource Pijush Hazarika, MP Topon Kumar Gogoi, the Guardian minister Dr Ranoj Pegu, and departmental higher-ups applied for the 300 GSM non-woven synthetic geo-fabric sheet over a length of 650 meters in the affected area. The entire area was free from further erosion even during the high flood this year which testifies to the effectiveness of the new technique.
When contacted, Majumdar told this correspondent that the erosion shield, though semi-permanent, can provide instant relief in erosion-affected areas besides preventing sloughing. The cost of the shield use, the Engineer said, in the area was about Rs 30 lakh per km which is the cheapest in comparison to other measures.
